Stuttering Success Story: NB's Story

NB is a technical leader in a company, and in his position, he supervises several people. As a leader, he needs to talk to people every day. These people include those individually within his own team and also during a lot of meetings. He talks in front of 10–20 people on a daily basis. He struggled with speaking in public in front of 50–100 people before the program as well. These occasions would come up often in his role, once every 3 months or so.

NB would nervously anticipate these events several months in advance and start looking around for something to help. During the talks, his anxiety would build, and he would start stuttering and stammering. He wanted to tackle it head-on. He found Michael Williams’ Pro90D stuttering treatment program very interesting and learned about some of its main features through YouTube.

He liked that the stuttering therapy techniques weren’t just about stopping stuttering but rather focused on becoming a superior speaker. He sees people in positions similar to his, and while most of them are knowledgeable, they aren’t necessarily good communicators. He sees the value in being able to speak well.

He really enjoyed using Michael’s Pro90D program, and his public speaking became significantly better. He learned to focus on the audience rather than his speech. He actually started to enjoy speaking, which he didn’t expect from working with a stuttering speech coach. He now looks forward to his next speech.

NB believes improving is a matter of training and continuing to work on smooth speech. When he speaks, he focuses on the audience and the message. What he learned is that there is no magic cure; rather, there are specific techniques to use and practice. NB likes that there is a scientific basis behind Michael’s Speech Therapy for Stutterers program. You can find a lot of studies about the concept his program is based on, such as the neuroplasticity of the brain.

He also adopted a new mindset when he had to speak. Instead of seeing the prospect of giving a speech as a threat, he started to see it as an opportunity. He has had many success stories since pursuing stuttering treatment. Most of his public speaking has since gone well. Even though some speeches went better than others, there were times when he would get compliments from those who attended on how well he spoke.

The number one piece of advice NB can give is that you need to continue to work on the techniques you learn from the Pro90D program. Your speech won’t change overnight. The best recipe for NB was to practice the stuttering therapy techniques in real-life situations. The first time you practice after you’ve only been studying the techniques, you’ll realize how much better you’re actually doing. If you practice in real life over and over, you start to build up confidence that you can speak well. You know you can do it because you have the tools.

One tool NB used that helped him a lot was modeling. Modeling is trying to imitate someone, like the instructor. During training with his fluent speaking coach, he studied how Michael was talking, articulating, and moving his hands. For the first couple of months, NB just spoke in the same way Michael would speak. It helps a lot because it’s similar to acting, where you’re impersonating someone else.

It helps your brain speak well because it’s like you’re pretending to be someone who does. Eventually, your brain realizes it’s actually you who’s speaking and doing it well. NB finds that modeling helps in everyday conversations too but that it has to be dialed down. He found that he had quicker success with public speaking than everyday interactions.