It is no secret that I stuttered severely from the age of 4 and did not talk in class ever, not even in my masters program. I did not even speak up when a professor announced that the suicide rate must be higher with people who stutter. It infuriated me. My friends looked at me and begged me to speak up. I could not. I would not. I hung my head in shame. The insurmountable fear of stuttering and silence coming out of my mouth was unimaginable. So now I am saying it and would say at any conference that is not true. When I was teaching I made that clear to my students. The point was I was trapped in silence.
The truth is I did not know any fluency tools in school. No one understood and I was hiding. Fortunately I had my father as a positive role who stuttered by worked and lead a life I admired.
What I wish?
I wish I had intensive therapy. Not once a week because that never helped me.
I wish I had the fluency and coordination of speech before the emotional part of stuttering kicked in.
I wish I had a speech pathologist and coach by my side encouraging me to speak.
If you are ages 16 and over consider this program. We accept applications and determine level of motivation and time commitment. To me it mattered more than ACTs, SATs and math. I just did not want to struggle and be in emotional pain.
For more information please visit www.allislandspeech.com
Lori@allislandspeech.com
www.mpi2.com