My name is Deven and I am 27 living in Texas. I am an accountant at an oil company. I began stuttering in the first grade. The teacher used to make us read aloud to the class. I was nervous and stuttered and everyone had a good laugh. The more that I stuttered, the more the teacher called on me to read. I was too young and bashful to complain; and the teacher was probably trying to help me learn to read without stuttering, but it backfired and the stuttering only worsened.
Over time, I began stuttering in social situations, especially when I had to introduce myself, talk to strangers or talk on the phone. I have never received any type of therapy. Then I found Lee Lovett’s book, “Stuttering & Anxiety Self-Cures” on Amazon. I read the first edition in early 2017 and then the 2nd Edition when it was published a few months later. I have now read Lee’s book five times and I read it aloud every time. It has been a huge help. In it he invites readers to email him and I did. In addition, we have Skyped approximately six times which has helped me a great deal!
It has now been about three months since I had my last stuttering incident, where I stuttered noticeably and felt the heat of panic overcome my whole body. Currently, I have zero issues on the phone and I have joined Toastmasters. I have spoken there in front of a group of people several times without stuttering. I feel a sense of real freedom speaking now. I still think about my speech, but much, much less, and I am good at using “The Crutches” to avoid the appearance of being a stutterer. I am on my journey to beat stuttering.
At this point, I am going to concentrate on using meditation (auto suggestion) to improve myself as a person, as well as to stamp out what’s left of fear of speaking. Since I don’t stutter noticeably, the fear gets less all the time. I also hope to help other PWS to self-cure in the future. Speech Anxiety Anonymous offers an incredible service to PWS, a place to self-cure and also a great place to give back.
Deven from Texas, November, 2017