The Health Blog Online

Mum, I could really do with your help. What is wrong Steve? It is my speech; I know I try and make out that it does not really bother me too much but this stutter is really starting to get me down. Even what the average person would class as “simple tasks” are beyond me; such as even saying my own name or answering simple questions. I find it virtually impossible to read out in front of the class without stuttering and basically I have had enough.

OK Steve, I can see how upset you are. But what about all of the help that you have been receiving at speech therapy? Are you having a laugh? It is a complete joke mum, surely you can see that. I have been going to see various speech therapists since the age of five, that is ten years now. What has been the result of all of this therapy? I am now worse than ever. So I guess you could say that speech therapy has not exactly proven to be beneficial for me. Yes I agree that the speech therapists themselves are nice enough people but they are not getting paid to be nice; they are getting paid to help people like me. The main problem being is that they just have no comprehension as to what it is like to have this form of speech impediment.

Steve, I can hear your frustration and I understand the points that you are making. I must admit my question with regards the speech therapy was rather daft – I apologise. It is now time to look for an alternative form of therapy; what we need is a new form of stuttering treatment and some proper stuttering/stammering advice.

The above was a conversation that I had with my mother when I was aged fifteen. The speech impediment at this stage was starting to create many a problem for me and I just had to find a way of eradicating it from my life.

Over the next few years, with the help of my supportive family, I worked extremely hard to find a way to stop stuttering. This was not going to be easy however and I knew that my goal to find the secrets as to how to stop stuttering would require a far amount of patience. At the age of twenty-two I finally achieved my goal of fluency – it was sure worth the wait – now my life could really begin.