| June 12th 1990, aged 16. This is crazy, why can | | | | that I had a speech impediment and that if I could |
| no-one help me? I have had a stutter since the | | | | accept it then life would become far easier, |
| age of four and I have had enough. I dream and | | | | instead of fighting a continual battle. To accept the |
| yearn to be able to speak fluently but my | | | | stutter would be to accept second best in life and |
| chances of achieving this are minimal. Why? | | | | this goes against my principals! |
| Because the current treatments for stuttering are | | | | I continued to battle on and I am happy to report |
| a joke. Speech and language therapy has not | | | | that I was eventually able to eradicate the stutter |
| helped me despite the fact that I have regularly | | | | from my life when I was aged twenty-two. This, |
| attended there classes for the last eleven years! I | | | | without a doubt, has been the biggest |
| need specialist stuttering treatment and I need it | | | | achievement in my life thus far. The last thirteen |
| fast. | | | | years, being able to talk free from the fear of |
| The above was an entry that I made in my diary | | | | stammering and stuttering, have undoubtedly |
| back in 1990. As you can no doubt tell I had had | | | | been the best of my life. |
| enough of living life with a stutter. I was less than | | | | In 2009 the available treatments for stuttering |
| impressed with the available therapies for | | | | have improved a great deal since 1990. There are |
| stuttering and at this stage it seemed like I was | | | | now specialist stuttering therapy courses as well |
| likely to continue to struggle with my speech for | | | | as a variety of self-help stuttering therapy |
| the rest of my life. I had been advised by the | | | | products. The future certainly looks a lot brighter |
| speech and language therapists to accept the fact | | | | today than it did on June 12th 1990! |