Speech Coaching: A Team Effort

The reason for this blog is to share with readers what the WSSA Certified Speech Coaches (CSC) do after each session, and to help you—the coached PWS or PWSS—understand that you’re actually being supported by more than one person. In a way, you’re being coached by the entire team of CSCs, including Lee Lovett. WSSA truly operates as a team, and every student benefits from that approach.

After each session, the CSC sends an email to the student summarizing the most important points discussed and assigning “homework” to continue improving. When a person who stutters follows their coach’s advice exactly as given, they notice progress every week—and sometimes even daily, depending on their effort and consistency.

When someone reports that their speech has stayed the same or gotten worse since the last session, we immediately analyze why. Usually, it turns out that they haven’t been reading aloud enough, haven’t been doing their mind training treatments consistently or correctly, haven’t been using their crutches properly, or haven’t been acting as their own Speech Cop—or some mix of all these.

Today, I had my second session with a semi-severe person who stutters, and it was a great example of how effective the crutches can be. They allow us to stop overthinking words and speak naturally and fluently. Below is the email I sent this person after our session (some details have been removed for privacy):

Hi there,

Great job today! You were completely fluent during the entire session by using a combination of soft voice and whispering. Amazing! Keep doing that, and you won’t need the crutches much longer. For you, this combination (Crutch 7 – whispering and Crutch 8 – soft voice) has proven to be the easiest path to immediate fluency.

To build as many fluency memories as possible, speak this way all the time. You’ll create zero dysfluency memories if you do it—and if you stay a Speech Cop.

Being a Speech Cop means not allowing yourself to stutter, not even once. It’s like driving a car—you can’t lose focus or you’ll have an accident. You must be vigilant and aware of your speech. There are warning signs, like halting speech, a knot in your throat, or pressure building up. When you feel any of these, you must take action—whisper, pause for two seconds, and then continue. You can combine this with other crutches too.

Remember the four key words we discussed:

1. Soft voice/whisper
2. Short bursts (around five words)
3. Full stops (1–2 seconds; count 1000–1, 1000–2)
4. Smile

Another powerful way to achieve immediate fluency is by singing or humming your words. This has been especially helpful for very severe stutterers. You can visit WSSA’s video section at https://worldstopstuttering.org/videos/ and use the search filters. Search for “Artis” to see how he used singing to stop stuttering, or for “Shubham” to see how he beat stuttering mainly through extreme pronunciation (Crutch 9).

Continue reading aloud at least one hour per day, practicing the crutches (one crutch per page). This is the best way to master them. Do at least two autosuggestion treatments daily—one in the morning and one at night. Listen to your recordings whenever possible, and immediately reject negative thoughts with positive affirmations.

Also, watch the Crutch Mastery Series video course. See how the techniques are explained and applied, then record yourself to make sure you’re doing them correctly. There’s often a big difference between how we think we’re speaking and how we actually are.

Lastly, here’s the link to today’s session: [link removed]. Watch it as many times as needed.

I’ll see you next week—unless I see you at the SAM meeting on Saturday. I’m expecting a huge improvement, don’t let me down! My money’s on you!

All the best,

Javier Valcázar

After sending the session email to the student, I then send a brief report to our coaching team. This allows all the CSCs to review, share feedback, ask questions, and offer suggestions. In turn, it helps each of us continue improving as coaches while helping more people overcome stuttering and speech anxiety faster.

It’s a true win-win-win system—students grow, coaches improve, and together we keep proving that stuttering can be overcome.