| Many people have problems with their communication | | | | take on board what they were telling me. In reality I did |
| and in this article I am going to describe ways in which | | | | not want to be there and for some reason I felt |
| to overcome these speech difficulties. | | | | ashamed and would often wonder why I had a stutter |
| My name is Stephen Hill and I am from Birmingham in | | | | when no one else seemed to. |
| England. From the age of four I had the speech | | | | Adult stuttering |
| impediment known as a stutter. I attended many | | | | I then progressed to the class called, stuttering in adults. |
| different types of speech therapy, some in groups, | | | | I now decided that speech therapy was not really |
| some on a one to one basis. The kind of advice I was | | | | working for me. I possibly had always had the wrong |
| given to control the stutter or to overcome the stutter | | | | attitude to speech therapy. It was hard to convince me |
| were varied. These are some:slowing down my | | | | that these people could help as I knew they had never |
| breathcostal breathingprolonged speechtaking a deep | | | | even had a stutter, therefore I thought that it was |
| breath before I spoke | | | | impossible for them to fully understand what I was |
| Preschool stuttering | | | | going through. |
| I had began in the class called, stuttering in preschool. | | | | I then decided to try my own form of self help for |
| At this age my parents were advised that it was | | | | stuttering. Even though I had a stutter, at times I could |
| probably just a phase and that I was likely to grow out | | | | talk very well. As an example when I was drunk, I |
| of it (the stutter). They were relieved about this but for | | | | spoke nearly perfectly fluent. My all round confidence |
| whatever reason it did not go away and was to ruin | | | | would increase and suddenly I did not care or worry |
| my life for the next eighteen years. | | | | so much about my speech or anything in fact. |
| Childhood stuttering | | | | After nearly a year I managed to stop stuttering once |
| I then joined the class called, stuttering in childhood. I | | | | and for all. As a career I now help other people how |
| continued to attend speech therapy and was trying to | | | | to achieve fluency. |