I’m almost 90 now, and I have Parkinson’s and some dementia. It seems strange for someone with a BA, an MD, an MS, and who is a retired Orthopedic Surgeon, to have someone else write for you, but the passage of time changes many things. So, Lee will write this for me. The best news is that, after around eight decades of stuttering, I did finally stop appearing to be speech disabled! So, it is appropriate that this story be shared.
My stuttering began at age 4, but it didn’t prevent me from becoming an Orthopedic Surgeon and practicing medicine into my sixties. Although I stuttered much less when engaged in medical procedures, in other situations, I couldn’t help repeating words. After I retired around 20 years ago, my stuttering got worse. My wife got dementia and no longer knew me and was put in an assisted living facility until she died. The loneliness seemed to compound my stuttering. I tended to fast repeat anywhere from a few repeats to a dozen repeats per word on around half my words. I tried to slow down; I tried to use elongation as therapists had urged me to do in the past, but I just couldn’t do it.
In early 2022, I found Lee’s book on Amazon, and it helped me so much. He put his email in his book and invited readers to contact him, so I did. We Skyped ten to twenty times. Thanks to Lee’s methods, I have been able to cut my repeats to zero in many situations and to so few in others that I don’t appear speech disabled anymore.
Even at almost 90, I still don’t like the idea of broadcasting my lifetime of stuttering and my belated victory over it. I do have children and grandchildren, and a lifetime of stuttering is not the best legacy. However, I DO want others to know what I have learned: Stuttering CAN be stopped, and it makes no sense to spend your life stuttering. Even at this late date, I can enjoy talking without stuttering. Don’t waste your life stuttering. Get Lee’s books and join WSSA’s community of ex-stutterers. They want to help all PWS, and they will help you. When you beat it, your life will be so much better. Every day is precious. Do it now. Good luck.
Donald, a retired Orthopedic Surgeon