Hello, my name is Dave and I live in Ohio. I have degrees in accounting and finance and work in a private business. I’m married and have two children. I started stuttering when I was three years old. My parents say that I used to say my words backwards and then it developed into a stutter. I went through many years of speech therapy when I was a child. Some of it made me feel better, but it never helped me stop stuttering. I also tried a useless mechanical device, which I describe below. I remember when I was ten years old the speech language pathologist told me that I would stutter the rest of my life and I should learn to accept it. I was devastated. I felt hopeless. Shortly thereafter I stopped speech therapy.
I went through high school and college navigating around my speech. Much of my life choices centered around my stuttering and how I could avoid showing it. When I had to decide on studying a foreign language, I chose to study Latin because it was an unspoken language. I would message friends on the computer rather than call on the phone so I wouldn’t have to speak. In college I decided to study accounting because I felt I shouldn’t have to speak up too much.
I graduated college and found a great job at a Fortune 500 company in Ohio. I was in their Finance management trainee program and every six months I had to give a presentation to the executives of the company. I would rather die than do that! I stumbled my way through the presentations, but it was dreadful. My boss at that time wanted to help and he found a device that went in my ear like a hearing aid. It was supposed to delay my speech that I heard and improve my speech. It was an expensive device, but I tried it. I really wanted to beat my stuttering. Unfortunately, the device did not help me. It was uncomfortable to wear, and my speech sounded robotic and abnormal. I stopped wearing the device and continued to muddle through my speech.
A few years later I joined a small business where I am blessed to be able to work with my brother and my parents. My speech continued to be a problem, but I feel like I was finally accepting it as I was told to do when I was ten years old. Soon my wife and I started a family, and we were blessed with two beautiful daughters. After having kids, I realized that I wanted my kids to be proud of me and not embarrassed by their stuttering father.
In my mid-thirties I decided to attend a 12-day intensive stuttering treatment program out of state. Not only was it a financial commitment, but it was a sacrifice for my family to have me away for that long. I felt like it was going to be worth it. The stuttering therapy was good, it was somewhat helpful, but it did not enable me to stop stuttering. My speech still sounded abnormal and robotic and I thought about my speech all the time, and I reverted back to stuttering.
Then in 2021 I discovered Lee Lovett’s book, “Stuttering & Anxiety Self Cures”. I absolutely loved it. Finally, I felt like someone understood my stuttering! I felt like Coach Lee was speaking directly to me. I read Lee’s book and then read it again and again. I think I’ve read this book at least 10 times so far. I started coaching with Coach Clifton and tried to fully immerse myself in Coach Lee’s program. With Lee’s book, the WSSA resources, and the coaching, I was able to get my stuttering very close to being cured. I wasn’t appearing speech disabled and I even no longer feared speaking. I felt like I could talk to anyone at any time.
Now in 2024, even though I feel like my stutter is no longer there, I sometimes have choppy speech. I have recently done a few sessions with Coach Lee re my choppiness and he’s helped me tremendously. I feel like I’m forever indebted to Coach Lee. His dedication to beating stuttering is unrivalled. Coach Lee’s books and numerous videos have been so helpful to my overcoming stuttering. I would also like to thank WSSA, the world’s only community of ex-stutterers and those fast becoming ex-stutterers and World Stop Stuttering Association’s coach Clifton.
I haven’t appeared speech disabled in months, and I no longer think negatively about my speech (as I used to do all the time). I’m now working on not planning words under pressure. Once I master that, I will work on loving to speak in all situations. After that, I plan to redirect my daily mind training sessions from speech to my non-speech problems (anxiety, anger, etc.) and that should lead me to be able to someday say that I converted my stuttering into a blessing. My speech goal is to become the best speaker in my peer group and hopefully one day become a certified speech coach. I feel that I am well on my way. Thank you again WSSA and Coach Lee!
David, Ohio, March 2024