My story: How I overcame my speech impediment
For most of my childhood, I suffered from a speech impediment in which I struggled with pronunciation. I had rhotacism which meant words containing the letters “R” and “W” were difficult to say. Starting in elementary school, I went to the school’s speech therapist. That unfortunately did not help at all. Learning how to speak clearly is difficult when you can’t hear your own “problem.” My mother’s a voice teacher, so she tried to teach me vocal exercises that would improve the clarity of my speech. Some progress was made over the years, yet nothing fully worked. Although my ability to speak was limited, I did not let this stop me from doing things I loved like public speaking and leadership. Despite any setbacks, my middle and high school carer consisted of speech and debate competitions and leadership in student government. Throughout my high school journey, I was class president all 4 years. My trick to overcoming my speech setback was simply speaking. By using my voice and practicing, I began mirroring other voices. My biggest trick was the confidence I held in what I said. When you speak with purpose, others will listen.
Now what?
Pretty much, the moral of my story is that you first can’t avoid doing the things you love because of your insecurities. More importantly, you can’t hold the mindset that your current situation is final. Instead, you can be proactive and take action towards change. Speech is an amazing gift that allows for connection and communication. Whether you are a nervous speaker or suffer from any speech impediment, I am determined to use this website to help you. Learning how to be confident with your voice is my main goal because despite having any speech impediments, you can still be an effective speaker if you hold passion in your words. There are links and resources of ways to help with public speaking. I will also be posting my personal recommendations that have got me to where I am today.
