I am a university student in the Czech Republic. I began stuttering in the 2nd grade. I stuttered in half or more of my conversations, at least enough to be thought of as a stutterer, because, when I did stutter, I stuttered 95% of my words. I mainly blocked and went silent. I had quite a bit of therapy at ages 6 and 7 and again at 16 and 17. They worked on my breathing but it didn’t make any difference. They also taught me that there is no way to stop stuttering and that I must learn to live with it for life. This was depressing beyond my ability to explain.
In October of 2023, at age 20, I was searching for stuttering books on Amazon and I found Lee Lovett’s books. I couldn’t believe it. I read his How to Stop Stuttering & Love Speaking, and I knew that he was right. Stuttering was not a physical problem. It was just a habit that I had fallen into. I began doing what the book suggested. I read aloud an hour or so every day. I had never stuttered when I talked alone to myself; so, I made recordings of myself saying my Affirmations as the book suggested, and I listened to them at idle times during the day and even while I slept at night. By doing these things, I heard my voice speaking fluently for many hours every day. As I did this, I began to stutter less and less when talking to people. I also gave myself two mind training treatments every day, one before bed and one when I arose. Each one took about 20 minutes. I kept repeating the Affirmations that were in Lee’s book. I told myself things like, “Every day, in every way, my speech grows better and better,” and “When I speak, calm floods my body,” and “I love to speak. I love to say my name.” I repeated each Affirmations 20 times during each mind training treatment. The more that I repeated these Affirmations, the less I stuttered.
I joined WSSA and began using its services, watching coaching videos, Master Class videos, attending SAM Meetings and even some practice sessions. I also emailed Coach Lee and he gave me six or so coaching sessions which also helped. The more that I used the methods called “tools” in the book, which are also known as crutches and speech plans, the less I stuttered. Speaking with passion, modulating my voice and speaking in shorter increments all helped. I haven’t humiliated myself by stuttering in several months now. I don’t want to make a public record of my stuttering. It’s too depressing, and it might later become known and somehow hurt by career. So, I post this story under a pseudonym. My story is still true and there are lots of emails and videos of me in WSSA’s files to back it up. The important point is that there are ways to stop stuttering. I still have fears of it, but they seem to be getting less.
Juri, Czech Republic, August 2024