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Stammering or as it is sometimes known as stuttering is a form of speech impediment. My name is Stephen Hill and I had a stammer for eighteen years. I went to various types of speech therapy which even though was of some use, never really offered me any hope of a "cure". At the age of twenty two, after a lot of hard work I managed to overcome the stammer and I now help other people to achieve fluency.

These are the types of situation that I found that I was most likely to stammer:

Ordering food and drink at a bar
Phone calls
Introducing people
Meeting new people
Talking when under pressure
Talking when tired or stressed

On my first day at senior school, all of the first year pupils were shown to their form room, including myself. The teacher, who was to be our form teacher, introduced himself and welcomed us to the school.

He then said

"OK class, I have introduced myself. I don't know any of you in here and most of you won't know each other. So what I would like you first of all to do, is to stand up and tell me your name and which junior school you used to attend."

He asked somebody on the front row to start, but because I was hiding at the back of the room, I would end up being one of the last people to speak. This was not a good thing as it meant I had a lot of time to worry about it. When my time arrived to speak, I could not even get one word out, it was most humiliating.

This is one of many bad days I had during the time when stammering was ruining my life.

Now that I am able to talk without the fear of stammering, life has become far less of a struggle.

It is like having a weight lifted from my shoulders. Helping other people who stammer is very rewarding. One lady arrived on my speech course last year extremely nervous, her husband attended as well as support for her. During and after the course she worked very hard and a few months later she sent me a card through the post. In the card she thanked me for all of the help I had given her and also for the support after the course (she would e-mail and phone me around twice a week). She stated that she had improved tremendously and had very nearly achieved her goal of fluency. Then she stated though that her husband now hated me as she now never shuts up. This put a smile on my face.