Hello! I’m 19 years old, and I’ve struggled with stuttering my entire life. On top of that, I grew up bilingual, so I’ve never really had the chance to speak fluently in either of the languages I know.

I stutter a lot in Arabic, and I used to stutter a lot in Russian too, although it has gotten better. Until I was 14, I was a really shy kid, but then I stopped letting my stuttering define me and started living a normal life. Thank God I moved to Russia, where everyone speaks Russian, and I find Russian phonetics much easier.

When I was 17, I gave my life to Jesus, and my pastor asked me to start preaching. I was like, “Okay!” 😅 I genuinely tried preaching in small groups, but it was really hard for people to listen to me sometimes because of my stuttering.

So today, I bought some headphones to simulate an echo effect while preaching, hoping it would help reduce my stuttering. I’m also going to code my own app, and maybe I’ll add a vibration feature to help me speak in rhythm through tactile feedback.

(First post kinda nervous)
I 27F have a speech impediment and I’m looking into if there’s any bigger online support groups? I’ve only seen “parents with children with stutters”

I’ve had a stutter ever since I could remember but it seems like I’ve gone through phases in my life where it’s hardly noticeable or it’s practically every conversation I have and it’s starting to work on my mental health.

I’ve had a stutter all my life but as of last year it’s been a lot worse than normal. I’ve been really insecure and I’ve been pretty much avoiding talking to people because of how awkward it makes me feel. I’ve been talking to this guy for a few days and we are meeting tomorrow evening and then we’ll watch a movie together. I haven’t mentioned my stutter to him and I’m not sure if I should. What do you think? Should I mention it or no?

My Journey from Stammering to Becoming a Marketing Manager

It all began in 2005, when I was still in school. I was a weak student, and one day, I failed in every subject.

My teacher instructed the class monitor, saying, “Take him to every classroom and tell everyone that he has failed in all his subjects.”

My class monitor took me to each classroom, one by one, and did exactly what the teacher had told him to do.

That day, my confidence was shattered. I felt as though I had been humiliated in front of the entire school. It was around that time that I began developing a stammer.

Gradually, I stopped talking to people. I rarely went outside or met my friends.

Whenever I went to a shop to buy something or tried to purchase a ticket at a railway station, there were times when I couldn't even get a single word out.

The enthusiasm in my life was slowly fading away. I began to feel that perhaps I would never achieve anything in life and would always remain far behind others.

The Turning Point in My Life

A major change came when I entered high school.

I asked myself a question:

“What am I going to do with my life?”

Ever since childhood, I had dreamed of becoming an Army officer. So, I decided to prepare for the Army.

But I had one major challenge to overcome—my stammer.

I often wondered, “If I can't even speak properly, how will I become an Army officer and command my team?”

That was when I started working on my stammer.

I tried several techniques to overcome it, but I didn't get the results I had hoped for. Gradually, I began to understand that I needed to understand my problem better.

I Started Changing Myself

One day, I sat down peacefully with a friend and began talking about my problem.

During that conversation, I reflected on my experiences. I noticed that when I stammered, there were times when my breathing and speech seemed to fall out of sync. I became so anxious about speaking that getting the words out felt even more difficult.

After that, I began practising my breathing and working on the way I spoke.

I started telling myself, “I can speak. I can get better, one step at a time.”

I began learning the guitar and tabla. I also started swimming so that I could spend more time around people and build the confidence to face social situations.

Sometimes, I would read a newspaper aloud in front of a mirror. At other times, I would go to the rooftop at night and practise speaking.

Gradually, I began to notice changes in myself.

I Tried Five Times, But...

After completing my education, I appeared for the Army examinations. I cleared the written examination and reached the interview stage, but I couldn't get selected.

I refused to give up.

I cleared the written examination five times, but I couldn't succeed in the interviews.

Every time, the same question came to my mind:

“Where am I going wrong? Why am I unable to express myself properly?”

I started thinking deeply about this. I realised that my fear, lack of confidence, and beliefs about myself were also playing a role in my speaking difficulties.

I put too much pressure on myself to speak perfectly in every situation. The more I feared that I might stammer, the more difficult speaking became.

So, I started working not only on my speech but also on my behaviour and mindset.

I Started Doing the Things I Was Afraid Of

I made a rule for myself:

Instead of running away from the things I feared, I would gradually learn to face them.

If I was afraid of asking for a ticket at a railway station, I would go and buy it myself.

If I felt hesitant about talking to a shopkeeper, I would go out and buy things on my own.

I began facing these small situations one at a time.

Not every experience was easy. But I refused to stop trying.

Gradually, my confidence began to grow. My beliefs about myself started changing, and I became calmer than I had been before.

I learnt that simply thinking about a fear is not always enough to overcome it. Sometimes, we need to take small steps and face that fear in real-life situations.

I Didn't Become an Army Officer, But Life Showed Me Another Path

My dream of becoming an Army officer didn't come true.

But my story didn't end there.

I continued moving forward in life. I started playing golf, which gave me opportunities to spend time with good people and interact with new ones.

This helped me improve my social confidence and communication skills.

Some time later, I got the opportunity to work as a Marketing Manager at a good company.

And for me, that was a huge achievement.

In marketing, communicating with people, explaining ideas, building relationships with clients, and presenting your thoughts effectively are all essential skills.

The person who once struggled even to ask for something at a shop was now working in a role where communication was an important part of his everyday responsibilities.

For me, that transformation was an achievement in itself.

What Did My Journey Teach Me?

My journey taught me that we all have tremendous potential within us. However, fear and negative beliefs about ourselves can sometimes prevent us from using that potential fully.

What we believe about ourselves can influence how we behave.

If we constantly think that we are going to fail, we may give up before even trying.

But when we give ourselves a chance, practise consistently, and gradually face our challenges, new opportunities can open up for us.

I don't believe that positive thinking alone can solve every problem. In my journey, practice, experience, patience, and understanding my own thoughts all played a role in bringing about change.

Today, that difficult chapter of my life feels far behind me. I have moved forward in life, and I can now communicate with people with much greater confidence than before.

Now, I want to use my experiences to help other people who struggle with stammering, so that they too can find the right guidance and encouragement on their journey.

If you are also struggling with stammering and want to work on your speech, feel free to message me. I'll do my best to share my experiences and help you in whatever way I can.

Remember, your current challenge does not define your entire identity. You have the ability to bring about change in your life. Take the first step and give yourself a chance.

Survey Participants Needed: Experiences With Speech Therapy and Stuttering

Hello everyone,

I am a graduate student conducting a research project examining how the length and frequency of speech therapy may relate to the social and functional experiences of people with fluency disorders, specifically stuttering.

If you have experience with stuttering and have participated in speech therapy, I would greatly appreciate your participation in this anonymous survey. The survey takes approximately 10–15 minutes to complete and asks about your experiences with speech therapy and communication in everyday life.

Participation is completely voluntary, and anonymous.

Thank you for considering participation and for helping contribute to fluency disorder research.

I fckin hate them.

I usually do word substitutions to avoid these words but sometimes this isn't an option. I got a presentation comin up with lots of 'technical ' words starting with C 🫪

I fckin hate my life

Hi everyone,
I want to start by saying how much respect I have for this community. One of my close relatives stutters, and growing up, I’ve seen firsthand the daily challenges, frustration, and energy it takes to navigate conversations, phone calls, and presentations.
Because of this personal connection, I am working on a tool called "Sado". It's an AI project aimed at helping smooth out speech disfluencies while keeping your 100% authentic voice (without turning it into a robotic clone). My goal is not to "fix" who you are, but to give people more comfort and options when they want them.
For an academic customer development assignment, I am trying to understand real experiences better. If you have 1–2 minutes, I would be incredibly grateful for your thoughts.

To build a truly great and helpful tool for you, I really need your feedback. I'll drop the survey link in the comments below, and I would be deeply grateful if you could share your thoughts so I can make this as useful and comfortable for you as possible.

Hello, I am a final-year medical student.
I have stuttered for as long as I can remember—usually in a mild-to-moderate form that I was able to manage—but in recent years, likely due to stress, it has worsened and is now severe.
I find it very difficult to communicate with patients, take their medical histories, and convey information;
I am genuinely worried that this could significantly impact my future career.
How many of you stutter and work in the healthcare field? How do you manage it?
Thanks.

Society Steals Voices Not Stuttering

Third option (be present in normal way), often is just not possible. Many normal things I want to say I just can't, so I am left only with ones I can, which are often weird/strange.

So, I choose to interact with world in "weird" way, and people think I really wanted to, and that I had other options.

I got accustomed so much to being weird (by force), that it became my default natural behavior. My brain sometimes automatically chooses being weird. Even in interactions where speech is not needed, like texting, or when I have option to be "normal".

After all these years of walking with metal chains and ball tied to my legs, my sense of what normal "walking" should look like is completely lost.

Like I can do it fluently in front of my friends/ 2-3 people if I tried a few times. But no matter how much I practice i always get stuck in a real presentation.

Sometimes I can't even get the words out of my mouth in the beginning, if I can, I get stuck on words I usually find easy to deal with 😔

There's a presentation tomorrow and I am getting really anxious. Any helpful tips ??

Is anyone genuine happy with their lives?.

I'm asking this question with pure curiosity because I don't. I do not feel that my life is sad but I've never felt happy about it too

Is it just me?

First of all, I’d like to introduce myself.

I’m a 19-year-old Yemeni man who has struggled with a fairly severe stutter since childhood. It gradually became more challenging over the years, and now that I’m in university, I feel somewhat lost. I genuinely don’t know what I should do to make real, lasting progress in overcoming my stutter.

I’ve tried almost every exercise I can think of, from breathing techniques to reading aloud slowly using different speech techniques. However, I feel like these exercises no longer have much of an effect on me, or that whatever progress I make suddenly disappears.

At this point, there’s one thing I really want: someone who stutters like me and is willing to have daily voice conversations with me while we practice speaking slowly and comfortably together. I genuinely believe that having someone to practice with consistently, who understands what I’m going through firsthand, could make a huge difference for me.

I’m planning to follow a strict, two-month practice plan starting now and continuing until the beginning of 2027, and I want to take this seriously and commit to making real progress.

If anyone here is willing to practice with me through daily voice calls, please feel free to DM me! I can share my Discord username with you privately.

Secondly, I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been in a similar situation. If you’ve ever reached a point where you felt completely stuck, where nothing seemed to work and you couldn’t find anyone who truly understood what you were going through, how did you get through it? What actually helped you make progress?

Sometimes, when you reach a dead end, it feels like nothing you do makes a difference, and you start losing your sense of direction.

I’m not looking for a magical overnight cure. I just want to find a way forward, make genuine progress, and hopefully connect with people who understand this struggle.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read this or share their experience. I’d genuinely appreciate any advice, personal stories, or willingness to practice together.

( Just to clarify, I wrote this post with the help of AI because I’m still learning English. ) 🔴🔴

So, my speech was pretty damn good for quite a few months, until recently, when I slipped back into the habit of drinking coffee every morning, and caffeinated drinks (Coke) over the last 3 or so weeks.

My speech has been noticeably getting worse during this period. Nothing else has changed, only my caffeine intake. I’m actually in a good place right now. I’ve just bought a new place and am excited about moving and doing it up. I’m not stressed or anxious at all.

I’m convinced, for me anyway, that caffeine is a massive NO NO for my speech fluency. Even my wife pointed out that my speech has been noticeably worse since I’ve been drinking regular caffeine on a daily basis :(

I’ll go back to decaffeinated drinks and see if there’s a marked improvement.

Just an observation I’d like to share with you all….

Hey everyone,

I'm 26, and I have a stuttering problem that gets worse when I'm anxious. I have my first radio broadcasting show this Saturday, and honestly, I'm really nervous about it.

I'm excited about this opportunity, but I'm scared that I'll get stuck on words, especially when introducing myself, saying song titles, or transitioning between songs. The more I think about it, the more anxious I become, and that makes my stuttering worse.

I really want to do well and enjoy this experience instead of constantly worrying about how I'll sound to listeners.

For those of you who stutter or have dealt with speech anxiety, especially anyone who has experience with public speaking, radio, or broadcasting:

How do you handle the anxiety before speaking?

What do you do when you get stuck on a word?

Has anyone with a stutter successfully worked in radio or another speaking profession?

What practical tips would you recommend for my first live show?

I'd really appreciate any advice or encouragement. I don't want my fear of stuttering to stop me from pursuing something I'm genuinely excited about.

Thank you!

Just wanted some insight from parents who have/had stuttering child. Has speech therapy helped eliminate or decreased the stutter when started this early with family history of stuttering. We have started the lidcombe program and just wanted to see if it works or what approaches worked!

Hi,

So recently I had given a software engineering interview face to face, this was the last round. Before that, 2-3 virtual rounds happened, there also I stammered. So I think they called for an in person interview just to check my speaking in more details.

And this face to face interview went horribly bad in terms of speaking. I stammered as hell and I can see the disappointment in their faces. Also, I was switching from English to Hindi (my native language) frequently so they might think I'm bad at English as well. However, my technical part went well.

I took speech therapy and course 2 times, but whatever techniques I learned, it doesn't come in my mind at the time of interviews or you can say, when I need them the most.

I know the only solution is to come out of our comfort zone and try to speak with different people everyday. But honestly, I have tried this and every time I have failed and gained new bad experience. So my energy and confidence to try and continue to experience new situation is now zero.

Would love to hear thoughts regarding this issue.

for the past two years i’ve stuttered when i’m nervous or stressed. I just can’t get my words out. people get annoyed with me because they think i’m acting weird. Can you develop a stutter or am i just too nervous?

I live in a legal state, and I've found that edibles makes my muscles relax more and makes it a lot easier to get words out. I'm not saying it cures the stuttering, but it makes it easier to be fluent. You don't think about it as much and the muscle relaxation allows for words to flow more smoothly.

It's like it's easier to let your thoughts flow into words.