My worst stuttering day

People often ask me what my worst experience of stuttering or worst stuttering day was. I had many a bad day before I eventually managed to eradicate this form of speech impediment. One day though does stand out and is one experience that I will never forget:

I was aged thirteen years of age at the time and was at school in a Science class. The teacher had asked me to answer a certain question which was something I had not expected, normally you would put your hand up if you wanted to participate etc.

It seemed as if the eyes of the whole class were looking at me and I instantly felt under extreme pressure. I immediately knew that I was likely to stutter but had to attempt to answer the question. To say that it was a struggle would be an understatement. I tried my best but the words just would not come out in anything near a fluent manner.

I could hear the laughter of a number of the members of the class and just wanted the world to eat me up. I looked down at the ground and hoped that eventually the comotion would end. After what seemed like an hour but was probably only a few minutes the laughter still had not abated and so I looked towards the teacher for help. Why had he not called for order?

To my horror and annoyance the teacher was smirking, he was attempting to hide it but he was definitely smirking. The reason that he could not control his class was because he could not control himself!

I went home that night and had a good cry. I did not tell my family as I believed that they would want retribution, the teacher did deserve some what of a slap however violence does not solve anything.

Steve Hill   www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk