I don't know how old you are or what kind of medical issue brought on your stuttering, but as far as I am aware, blocking is stuttering. At least it is if you are blocking when you feel you are about to stutter on a word and dont want to/can't let yourself stutter on it. And maybe I was being too semantic, but as far as I am concerned, it's all stuttering. repeating sounds like porky pig (which is actually pretty great but not easy open stuttering), blocking, prolongations, involuntary sound jerks, etc...are all primary stuttering characteristics. you don't have to have all of these symptoms, but any one of them is technically stuttering as far as I know. Back when my stuttering was really bad, it was like 95% blocking. I'd block hard until I could get out some kind of stutter. I know a lot of the time it may feel like you're just stuck until you get unstuck and then the word comes out quick and easy, but that just sounds like a really strong holding back from not stuttering. But again, I dont know if your onset of stuttering is atypical. Advertising (telling the person you stutter) is a popular strategy in speech therapy. In my opinion, if you feel comfortable advertising and it helps put you at ease, even a little bit, do it. If you're unsure if telling the other person would make them more uncomfortable or not, just think about each option. You don't tell them and start blocking, they might recognize that it's a stutter or they'll have no clue and be confused. You could tell them up front and in my experience they'll most likely be like "okay" and not really care. Then when you start blocking, they'll be like "ok he has a stutter". In my experience, depending on the situation like short exchanges with strangers, they dont care and aren't really interested. Sometimes i'll be having a hard time and manage to mention I stutter and they'll just give a reaction like "Ok i dont care" or "Right..so..what can i help you with?". Other times people are really nice about it and go "oh ok. sure! take your time." or something like that. I've never had a negative reaction to telling someone I stutter though, but to be honest it's fairly obvious with me and I don't do it a lot. I also don't feel as comfortable as I want to be advertising or expressly *taking on the role of a person who stutters*. In reading your responses, it does sound to me like you have a big conflict with being a person who stutterers. It's counter-intuitive and paradoxical because you want them to know you stutter and not only block but on the other hand, deep inside there might be a subconscious part who's #1 fear is being a person who stutterers and showing it. You may think, but "I show it all the time when I block." Yeah, but you're not showing stuttering. Blocking is holding back. it's like the definition of holding back. And hearing things like worrying about what the other person would think, feeling only comfortable when you make sure people know, feeling like your hiding (this is a big one for many people and it is very paradoxical), all that sounds like stuttering and holding back to me. But for what to do, I'd try to find a good speech therapist if you havent and get their take because I dont know anything about the details of your onset. I must say, all SLPs are not created equal. While most mean well, surprisingly few actually know anything or barely anything about stuttering, so try to find someone who has knowledge and experience. If you want to know what a good SLP sounds like, listen to the stuttertalk podcast, especially the episode with Robert Dellinger. I think they talk mostly about school therapists, but maybe it'll give you a baseline for what a good therapist should be like or at least how to spot a bad one. Edit: WTF i swear this reply was shorter than the last one!