My (continuing) adventure to fluency [HCRI]

My (continuing) adventure to fluency [HCRI] TL;DR - A scientifically proven speech therapy that helped me achieve my fluency. If you are tired and frustrated of your speech disfluency, it is time to own it and make a difference that will change your life! Hollins Communication Research Institute (www.stuttering.org) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had a stutter my entire life. Mostly my stutter consisted of voiceless blocks and breathless sounds while forcing words out to finish a sentence. Like most who have grown up with a disfluency, I tried a number of therapies throughout my schooling with short bursts of success. My speech would improve after learning some techniques from therapists, but my speech would soon deteriorate back to its initial state. This past summer, a friend of mine heard about a small, successful therapy program in Roanoke Virginia at Hollins Communication Research Institute. This program was developed by Dr. Ronald Webster, who has devoted his research to the misunderstood stuttering disorder, and yields impressive statistics of success with 93% of the participants attaining fluency after the session, and 70% maintaining fluency after the therapy. I recently completed the intensive twelve day, 100 hour therapy session, and the results are amazing! Looking at my before and after therapy videos, I can hardly recognize my speech. Coming out of the program, I feel that I have control over my speech, something I have never felt before. For the first time I can speak what is on my mind with perfect fluency. Unlike conventional speech therapy that teaches techniques to get out of a block or disfluency (pull out, etc.), the Hollins approach is the retraining of speech muscles to prevent the start of any disfluency. Through the careful speech system breakdown, clinicians at Hollins completely rebuild the speech patterns and behaviors of the stutter to achieve controlled, fluent speech. The Hollins program also helped me realize that I am not alone; I attended the Hollins program with ten other stutters. All of us grew very close over the twelve day session, and we all attained fluency after beginning the program with moderate to severe stutters. This program is by no means easy, and it takes complete commitment to be successful. The clinicians are there to train you how to produce fluent speech, but it is up to the participant to own the skill and practice repeatedly. This was one of the hardest things I have done, but every ounce of effort you put into it, yields incredible, real results. I am aware of some skeptics and those who are against the Hollins approach to fluency, but I am writing to explain the drastic improvement and change this program has introduced to my life. Myself, and the other nine participants from my session, are now in control of our speech. This program worked for me, and if you are 110% ready to attain fluent speech, it will work for you too! While I have attained my fluency immediately out of the program, I am a mere amateur when it comes to the skills I learned during the session. I still have a lot of work ahead of me to maintain my fluency, but I am confident that I have the skills and determination to own my speech and take control of my fluency. If you are tired of speech difficulties, take some time and research the Hollins Communication Research Institute (www.stuttering.org). I am happy to answer any questions you may have about my experience. A fellow stutterer, Eddie