Now I am 17, I have been stuttering since childhood, i.e. since about 4 years old. It was passed on from my father, who also stuttered, but his parents placed him in a specialized kindergarten with harsh measures at the very beginning, which nevertheless helped in terms of speech.
In elementary school I started working with speech therapists, who could only help with the pronunciation of hissing sounds and "r". Some advised beating me, some said that there was no stuttering at all, some massages, incense, self-suggestive phrases, breathing exercises, tongue twisters.
I think why beating doesn't help - there's no need to say. The effect of massages - although it helps with relaxation and general condition, however, it had no effect on speech. Incense, phrases, breathing exercises, tongue twisters - all there too.
The most helpful thing was the last speech therapist at the age of 14 – she gave me relaxation exercises and the “speak, putting emphasis on the finger on the knee” method. This helped, but only in a calm situation – with new people, even in a store, the psychological factor kicked in and everything went back to normal..
At school, there were not many problems related to speech at first - everyone was children and did not really understand what was happening. I was lucky, no one teased me, the teacher was tolerant, treated me kindly, but even all these factors did not stop the development of complexes and restrictions that I set for myself without realizing it. And then I found myself mired in a huge pile of problems.
Avoiding people, turning down events and opportunities – all of this was about me. I can’t even answer short phrases in class – pronouncing them takes 100 times longer than for an ordinary person, the lesson drags on, everyone starts getting nervous. And stress only makes the situation worse, and eventually saying anything seems like an absolutely impossible task.
If someone suggested meeting or, God forbid, getting to know someone, I found a lot of reasons not to do it and move the conversation online, just so that the person would not be disappointed in me, and we could talk adequately.
If a strong stressful situation occurs - be it hysteria, a strong quarrel with a loved one, shock - all this adds weight to the problem - it becomes increasingly difficult to speak, sometimes almost impossible.
If I don't overcome my stuttering, then the possibility of my dream profession is closed - because it is largely connected with communication with people, and I won't be able to pass the minimum level - the oral entrance exam to the university. That is, my whole future life is put under a big question - will I be able to realize myself fully without getting rid of the oppressive problem? Hardly. Of course, not everything in life is so bad - I also found a social circle that always supports me - girlfriends, friends, a young man.
I almost always feel at ease with them, and I can get my point across. But even in this company, sometimes I have to open my "notes" and type something frantically under impatient glances.
I really want to get access to the program, because after using it for a short time, it has already shown results - although I spent less than 5 hours in total.
I really hope that everything will work out for me and I wish everyone good luck in the fight against stuttering.