HOW TO STOP STUTTERING & LOVE SPEAKING: EXPANDS ALL EDITIONS of "Stuttering & Anxiety Self-Cures" Paperback – 7 Sept. 2021

Other reviewers have said it all before me, but this really is the best book that I have ever found in my life-time search to find a way of dealing successfully with my decades of stuttering. I began my own struggle with speech at the age of 4, and now, over 70 years later, I have found what has turned out to be the definitive answer for me which has ended my life-time of struggles. I have gone through all the usual awful stuttering experiences over the years- not able to say my name at school, not able to read out loud, being interviewed for this and that, all the potential horrors of formal job interviews, and then of speaking at meetings, making telephone calls, ordering train tickets, meals in restaurants, snacks in pubs - and on and on and on. As Lee Lovett observes, people who don't have a stutter/stammer have absolutely no idea that people who do stutter tend to think about their speech up to 59 minutes every hour, as they try to work there way through every brittle conversation without too much damage. It is a straitjacket and a nightmare. Orthodox speech therapy, which I have also experienced, in the main tries to offer ways of reducing the impact of stuttering on the person, and perhaps smoothing out the speech a bit, which can offer some relief, but usually not much, while we all wait for the neurological magic bullet which will make it all go away.This book offers a perspective that is really very simple - but because everyone is different, it takes a long time to explain it again and again in subtly different ways in the hope that one explanation may be the one that triggers a light bulb moment from a reader. And this length and the different approaches are the book's strengths. Essentially, the proposal is that stuttering is a dysfunctional habit, probably originally created by the mind as a form of self-protection, and which, like all habits, can be modified, changed and even erased if you know how to do that. And this book is the "how". There is an increasing amount of scientific evidence to "prove" this basic premise which some will want to digest eagerly (I did) but for others (in fact for all who stutter) it is the practice that is the proof of the pudding. And this includes really simple ways of re-training the stuttering habit, including a variety of forms of self-hypnosis and a wide range of affirmations to build up a new, positive way of thinking about speech, all of which are a part of re-training the mind into new speech habits. Pretty quickly after starting this on a daily basis with determination and application - a few weeks or months perhaps - the mindshift actually starts to happen. The magic of "hearing only fluency" (partly by reading out loud in safe stutter-free places ) and "not hearing dysfluency", and re-affirming this in practice many times every day takes the pressure off watching every word (for a stutter or a block or a repeat) and makes a clear move towards thinking and feeling "I love to speak in all situations." It really does work - and it did for me and for many others.This approach to stuttering does take determination and a lot of daily work, and the many examples and detailed discussions in this book prepare you for tackling most of the hiccups and difficulties that may occur. There are further coaching opportunities to be found, run by people who have stopped stuttering, if further detail and encouragement are needed, and these are mentioned in the book.So - my summary is that if you are facing the problem of stuttering, at whatever age, this really is the book to try. Perhaps one of its best qualities is that it offers hope and positivity in a subject that is often anything but showing these, especially to the afflicted individual. It may be the way that you find that you can leave your stuttering behind, as I have done. Not bad for someone in their late 70s, is what I am saying to myself every day!

This 713-page book is the culmination of Lee Lovett’s detailed instructions on how to use mind-training, reading-aloud and voice-tools (“crutches”) to beat stuttering/speech anxiety. The first edition was published in Nov 2015. This was followed by the second edition in July 2017 and the third edition in Sep 2019. The latest 2021 version adds new chapters 18-21; detailing new breakthroughs that Lee has accumulated from over 5,000 hours of coaching PWS (Person Who Stutters) and interactions with the myriad types of PWS. This will probably be Lee’s last written edition but it should be more than enough for any PWS to defeat stuttering. New materials include the pressure speech plan, progression to fluency and an invitation to join the newly-incorporated World Stop Stuttering Association (an international club of ex-stutterers/speech anxiety sufferers).Lee’s background as an ex-stutterer puts him in a unique position to understand the pain and challenges of speech disfluency. Unfortunately, many ex-PWS who have recovered do not explain their methods clearly or have chosen not to publicise their “cures” for one reason or another. Most stuttering books spent an inordinate amount of time on causes and history, and other personal idiosyncrasies. The result is that most books are narrowly focused, fail to account for the different types of stuttering, and worse of all: fail dismally to explain how one can “beat” stuttering. Furthermore, some speech pathologists (mostly non-stutterers) often propose solutions (e.g. focusing on articulation, word-fixation, ‘accepting’ stuttering) which are actually quite damaging to the PWS in the long-run. Fortunately, Lee’s approach and his book suffer none of these. The author cuts to the chase and lay out his road-map for beating stuttering in clear, concise and easily-followed instructions. To his credit, Lee is quick to point out that his method is not the only one out there but his is the only one that he knows WORKS. PWS all over the world are fortunate to have this book. Indeed, it is a rare treat of peeking into how one can successfully use what we already possess (i.e. brain plasticity) and exploit field-tested techniques (e.g. reading aloud, “crutches” and many other practices) to slay the stuttering Dragon. Lee also provide many advice (e.g. The Seven Cardinal Sins of PWS) which run counter to the standard speech pathology approach, but any long-suffering PWS who reads them will recognize that Lee is right. Providence has provided a perfect Dragon Slayer for stuttering - Lee’s background, love of books, and his many, many years of experience, and most importantly, his willingness to share his thoughts - are what every PWS needs to hear and learn from if they ever wish to take up their own sword and defeat the stuttering beast.