I am a stammerer...

My name is V...V...Vivin Joy. If memory serves me correctly, I was a normal enthusiastic child who just started going to a school in Bangalore. I had loved going to my class and enjoyed the presence of my class teacher. Suddenly when I came back from school one day, my mom noticed something different, I was speaking with lot of difficulty. I tried to speak very fast from my early childhood and also used to get a lot of nose blocks due to my allergy to dust. Its not sure if these factors caused me to stutterer, but it never went away.

Few year laters, my parents got transferred to Coimbatore. I loved every part of my life in Coimbatore and little did we know that we were going to settle there. I got into one of the good schools there and was among the top two ranks in my class. But I had a major problem, I was afraid to speak up in my class nor even dared to  stand up and say my name with confidence. My teachers knew about this problem, since it was pretty evident and they cared for me. It was left to my discretion whether to take part in reading exercises and would be completing most of my sentences. I felt everything was going well. My friends did not mock about my stammering and I kept away from those who did.

I came among the top 100 ranks in my State and joined PSG college of technology. My speech was far from eloquent and my sentences were broken when it came out of my mouth. I realised the importance of speech only after I joined my college. I was not able to actively participate in the clubs, due to my fear of exposing my stammering. I tried lot of tricks to hide my stammering, due to added peer pressure. I was able to socialize well with my classmates, but my stammering was hindering me from going ahead. It would be in back of my mind all the time and most of my time was concentrated on finding ways to hide it and cope with it in the future situations.

            Little did I know during my childhood that it was going to affect my life so much. I was not able to speak what I wanted in meetings. My mind would constantly switch words in middle of my sentences to prevent the block. This would result in poor formulation of my sentences. I felt ashamed when my colleagues would complete my sentences or even say my name for me. I was not even able to order the food that I like and would mostly choose the food which I could say properly. I grew out of my fear in hiding my stammering, however I never had a solution for this monster. I took the full ticket in bus when I could  not say the  name of the bustop.

            I had attended many speech therapies but they would give me the comfort only for a week and their techniques never helped me in real life. Recently I joined a speech programme called the Mcguire Programme. This was introduced to me by my Uncle.  This program was unique in the way it approached the problem. The most remarkable thing about this program was that it was run by stammerers from the top to the bottom. They knew the psychological problems that we undergo and are proof for the veracity of this programme. They inculcate the idea to strive for eloquent speech rather than fluency. This helps us to stay honest and show others that we have a stammer, but at the same time helps us to speak what we really wanted to convey with confidence and assertiveness. It has been two years since I have been with this programme and I was fortunate enough to become an international coach. This programme happens in India twice a year and we would also meet constantly through support groups and improvement days.

            Lately I have been able to smash my fears and give a few public speeches too. I have also joined a toastmaster club to refine my speech techniques. For me, stammering is a result of bad habits which gets accumulated over the years and spreads from one speaking situation to another. Students with stammering should be monitored at an early age and their teachers/parents should guide them to get rid of these bad habits. This could be done by asking them to repeat the words which they say pretty fast in a confident manner. They should be made to realise that its not the normal way of speaking and we need to speak with no tension over our articulators, face or body. If we notice such situation, we need to ask them to repeat until they utter with clarity. We should not protect them from speaking situations, but rather make them to face more such situations. Most importantly, they should not be ridiculed at, but rather treated with patience and respect. This trait is something I find lacking among many Indians. I would love to bring more awareness related to stammering to schools and thats my motive for the coming years. We need to help people understand that there is a solution and that we are never alone!!

           

I am  conducting an improvement programme on 27^th Jan 2018 at Coimbatore with the other students in the group.  Follow up and improvement programmes are part of this of this coaching.

Those who would like to interact with me  can join us for a free session on 27^th between 3pm to 5pm. They may contact me at the mail address joy.vivin1@gmail.com or call me 081444 888 69.

Note :  Shri Vivin Joy, Btech,MS -   is now working with a software company in Chennai as a senior programmer .