Hello

[Juno Monstrose]

Hi, I just signed up! I actually got this link from a speech therapist. It's the first time I heard something like this existed. Actually, the only other stutterers I have ever met were my brother, father, and grandmother. No one else. So it's nice to be able to get to know people who know what I'm going through.

I've stuttered all my life. I've been going to speech therapy off and on since I was three. When I was little I used to mix up syllables of words, for example, I would say "bur-ham-ger" or "ger-bur-ham" instead of hamburger and apparently there was no particular pattern to this at all. I can only imagine how frustrating it was for my mother to figure out what I was saying... Now I run words together and have trouble getting words out when I'm speaking. I'm working on some breathing techniques for the latter and I'm just starting to work on spacing my words out. It's like my brain goes too quickly for my mouth to keep up.

It's kind of embarrassing being 17 years old and still having speech problems. It's even worse when some of my friends don't understand my problem and laugh when I slip up and stutter. Unless I'm really close to the person, I usually don't speak up. I'm always worried that I'll make a fool out of myself. I can't even imagine a life where I don't have to worry if what I say next will make me stutter or not.

But I think I am slowly getting over my shyness. Last week I called someone I never talked to for the first time and held a conversation with him about college. My heart was pounding and I was super nervous, but I actually took the initiative and talked to someone I didn't know without them approaching me first. I'm very proud, which makes me a little depressed X)

Well, I wish you other stutterers out there good luck!