Hello everyone, my name is Jasmine, I am 26 years old, and I am from the USA. I started stuttering around the age of 13. One vivid memory that still stays with me is when I asked my teacher for permission to use the washroom. I stuttered badly on the words, and to my shock, the teacher himself teased me. I am not sure if he did it intentionally or not, but I felt deeply embarrassed. From that point on, my fears about stuttering began to grow, and I started losing confidence in the way I spoke. Most of the time, I could speak fluently in casual conversations, but whenever I had to give a presentation, all my blocks would hit me at once. People often noticed this contrast—seeing me speak smoothly in one moment and then stutter in the next—and it made me even more self-conscious. Interestingly, I also observed that when I looked directly at people while speaking, I stuttered less than when I looked away. Still, whenever I felt nervous, I could stutter on almost 90% of my words.
At the age of 19, I tried traditional speech therapy for about four months, where I was taught the “gentle contact” technique—saying hard consonants in a light, breezy way. Unfortunately, this did not help me much in the long run. Over the years, the anxiety and loss of self-confidence drained a lot of my energy.
Then, one day, I came across a Reddit post where someone mentioned Coach Lee’s book – How to Stop Stuttering and Love Speaking. I immediately looked it up on Amazon, read the reviews, and decided to buy it. Although I purchased the book in 2021, I left it untouched for two years and only read it in 2023. Once I finally did, it was incredibly helpful. In fact, I even attended a job interview where I applied the techniques from the book, and it went really well. Unfortunately, despite knowing the techniques, my anxiety often took over, and I would fail to apply them consistently.
In 2025, I decided to take the next step and joined the WSSA program. This was truly life-changing for me. I also started using the Stop Stutter App, which provides daily exercises in reading aloud, mind training, and speech tools. One thing I particularly like is the crutch practice sessions, where small groups come together to practice techniques. These sessions have helped me tremendously. For example, the Stops has been invaluable in slowing down my speech and helping me focus on natural expression rather than word planning. I’ve also learned to maintain my own pace rather than being influenced by the speech rate of others, which was very difficult in the beginning. I have been attending Coach Prathusha’s crutch practice sessions consistently, and during one of our check-ins, she guided me to focus on my next stage of growth: battling fear.
I should mention that my last humiliating stuttering incident happened in May 2025. Since then, I haven’t experienced any such humiliating stuttering incidents. Coach Prathusha reminded me that going four weeks without a bad incident means I can already be considered a PWSS (Person Who Stopped Stuttering), and that if I can maintain it for four weeks, I can maintain it for a lifetime. This gave me a lot of confidence. My current goal is to keep expanding my comfort zone and to battle fear step by step. To do this, I joined Toastmasters, and I am extremely proud that I have already delivered multiple speeches there. Each time, I leaned heavily on the crutches, and they worked beautifully. Through this journey, I also learned an important lesson from Coach Prathusha: fear itself is not stuttering. Fear may still be present, but we always have a choice not to stutter if we consistently apply the speech plan – short, link and stop. Over time, as the speech plan become second nature, the fear itself will gradually fade.
I have also been encouraged to attend SAM meetings regularly, use the Stop Stutter app to track progress, and take Masterclass 3 on Anxiety, since fear is still my biggest hurdle. As I said above, I now know that fear is not stuttering, and I have not had a humiliating speech incident for months now.
I am committed to staying consistent because I know that is the key to success. Looking ahead, I feel incredibly motivated by the possibility of becoming a CSS (Certified Stuttering Specialist) someday. The thought of giving back to the same community that has given me so much fills me with excitement and purpose. I am truly grateful to Coach Lee, WSSA, Coach Prathusha, and all the wonderful coaches and PWSS members who have supported me on this journey. I am now looking forward to reaching my next milestone: learning to speak confidently in all situations and fully conquering fear.
Thank you.
Jasmine, October 2025