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I need some advice and techniques. Hello. My name is Aidan and I am 16 years old. I have had a stutter since I was young and it was bad when I was young and then didn't come up until I was about 12-13. I have trouble with words starting with A, B, D, M & R. I can't even say the name of my own street because it starts with a "Bir" sound. Now as I'm getting older, I am meeting more and more people and I have trouble saying my name. I usually use "My name is Aidan." but sometimes that can't even come out. I recently had to an oral presentation in Physics and we had to explain to the class (about 15 students) about what we researched. I was so hesitant to do it that I told my teacher that I don't feel comfortable with speaking in front of the class and she said that we could figure out another way. I was on the verge of going to do it as others came up but I knew that I would stutter and look stupid. I've had speech therapy about 3 times and it only gets better while you are doing the therapy. I now realised I wasted my time doing all of that and wasting my parents money. About 2 years ago when I was 14-15, I started to realise that I could speak more often. People didn't tease me anymore and I started answering questions and actually speaking to people. It felt amazing but the stutter is still there. One time someone asked me my name and all I said for about 10 seconds was "A-a-a-a-a-a-a (about 20 times) then Aidan". It is really annoying and I absolutely hate my stutter. I see people saying whatever they want without having to think twice before talking. I do substitute words or say "wait" or "umm" or "err" really quietly before I say a sentence but I shouldn't have to do that and it looks like I'm sort of having a fit before I speak. I do not look forward to oral presentations for English because last year I had to speak in front of the class and I stuttered everywhere. No one said anything but I felt extremely terrible. I also find that I stutter more when I'm with my parents because they always address my stutter and I have come to the conclusion that I need to explain to them that it isn't the end of the world. They seem to think that and I completely disagree with them. I am also similar to most stutterers who can read a book in their head without a stutter and sing to a song without a stutter but I also feel that if I don't talk fast enough that the person will frown or be bored. I also am 100% sure that it is not my asthma that is making me struggle with my stuttering. We are all in the same boat and wish we didn't stutter but I'm sure that some advice or techniques could help. I am definitely not as shy as I was before but I always get up tight when I have to say my name or say a word that will make me stutter.