Hi Phil! First of all, welcome to WSSA. My name is Javier, and I am a PWSS and one of the coaches here. I totally understand your problem. The thing is that you’re actually focusing too much on that feared word, and not on the Crutch you want to use. If you say “My name is Phil”, and you’re fearing “Phil”, and your mind is focusing on those 4 letters, and nothing else, you’ll most likely fail to use a Crutch. But if, instead of focusing on that feared word (the problem), you focus on the Crutch (the solution), you’ll succeed.
Examples:

Focus on the pronunciation, really making sure you pronounce every syllable as clearly as possible, while you feel your jaws making that effort. See that I have not mentioned “word” anywhere.

Modulate through those words, from high to low, or viceversa. Visualize the variation of tones and pitch, feel it. It’s almost like singing! When we sing we’re fluent. Same idea applies to this Crutch.

Hold the tone, or link all your syllables, as if your sentence was a very long word. The idea is that you leave no speaces between syllables and letters. Feel the words flowing easily out of your mouth. Say it in a softer tone, and a bit more slowly, that help’s too.

These are some examples that come to my mind. The whole idea behind these tips is that you should only focus on the way you deliver your message. You mind should choose the words for you, without your intermediation, if that makes sense. It’s like when we blink. We don’t control it consciously, because if we do it, we will do it in an unnatural way. Same applies to our speech. It’s not easy to unlearn our old habits and acquire this new one, but it is doable. Practice, practice and more practice, that’s the way to do it.

About meeting with Lee, why don’t you come to one of our SAM Meetings (https://worldstopstuttering.org/speech-club/) so that you can talk to him directly?

Hello! I’d try with intorductory words instead such as “so”, “well”, “and”, and you link these to the feared word. Make sure you hold the tone through the entire sentence/thought.
You can also use modulation, for example.

I totally agree with you! Passion, modulation, more pronunciation… all these things improve your speech, they make you a better speaker, people enjoy being with you, and listening to you, and of course, you also enjoy speaking to them. It’s a win-win!

Hi OV97. First of all, welcome to WSSA. Please forward me that email to jvalcazar@worldstopstuttering.org and I’ll have it sorted out as soon as possible.
Sorry for any inconveniences caused.
All the best,

Javier

Hi Sree,
I disagree with you. Practicing alone does help. It’s like the training a proffesional basketball player does. The proffessional NBA player, does train every day, even alone, so that he makes sure he will be able to do it too when playing against other teams.
This is not the only way to practice with the Crutches. Another excellent way to master the Crutches is to use them too WHEN NOT NEEDED in low pressured situations. Let’s say that in your case a low pressured situation is talking to your partner, or your family, for example. Well, use these speaking situations to practice! Use the Crutches here and there, randomly, on some of your words. You will see how well you can speak if you use Crutches 7-12 as your speaking style (Crutches 8-modulation, 9 and 10 are my personal favourites). Use them as much as possible. And then use Crutches 1-6 on random words. So, start some of your sentences with a sound (C-4), drop the first letter of some of your words, etc.
The more you do it, the easier it will get, EVEN IN HIGH PRESSURED SITUATIONS.
But definitely the best approach for high pressured situations is what we call the “Emergency Speech Plan” (read Section 18.8 of “How To Stop Stuttering & Love Speaking” to know more).
I hope you find this helpful, Sree.

hi again Sree,
the Crutch Practice Sessions have helped many of the PWS that I’ve coached.
Not being able to use the Crutches when under pressure it is a very common problem. The way to solve it is to use the Crutches even when not needed. So, especially in high-pressured situations, start using the Crutches from the beginning.
The Emergency Speech Plan should help you a great deal too. This concept appears in Section 18.8 of Lee’s latest book, “How to Stop Stuttering & Love Speaking”.
Check some of the videos of coaching sessions where we practice this: https://worldstopstuttering.org/videos/?filter_video_tag=emergency-speech-plan

Hi Tino,
Exactly. We’re in the time zone, as I am also 6h ahead of NY. So, yes, 12h NY time = 18h your time. To make sure, I always check it on google by typing “time difference NY Madrid”, or whatever city/state/country I want to check. You can do the same with your hometown, just to be sure.

I hope you enjoy the Crutch Practice sessions and the Crutch Mastery Course!

Keep us posted with your progress.