beating the telephone...how?

[scott123]

Hi everyone,

Im just wondering how do you guys cope with formal telephone calls as recently I needed to speak to my bank to transfer direct debits and speak to my phone company (havnt phoned them yet).

My stutter isnt severe but when im on the phone it is terrible especially in formal situations. The biggest problem is the anxiety as even though my stutter isnt severe I have really bad anxiety with the telephone, to the point where I feel sick thinking about phoning up and giving my details.

My dad will always happily phone places for me but now im 20 it makes me feel so low as I want to do it myself but im too anxious / nervous to do so.

any tips or thoughts?

[howeee]

Hi everyone,

Im just wondering how do you guys cope with formal telephone calls as recently I needed to speak to my bank to transfer direct debits and speak to my phone company (havnt phoned them yet).

My stutter isnt severe but when im on the phone it is terrible especially in formal situations. The biggest problem is the anxiety as even though my stutter isnt severe I have really bad anxiety with the telephone, to the point where I feel sick thinking about phoning up and giving my details.

My dad will always happily phone places for me but now im 20 it makes me feel so low as I want to do it myself but im too anxious / nervous to do so.

any tips or thoughts?

After years of avoiding the phone I decided to just use the phone lol. I made up my mind to change what would view as a success or failure. So what I did at first was this, I called to make a doctors appointment, no matter how much I stuttered if I got my appointment I viewed the phone call as a success. This spread from phone calls to ordering my own food. If i went to the fast food window ordered exactly what I wanted and how I wanted it, recieved it, I looked at this as a success.

After awhile everything got easier. I took jobs retailing tires at Firestone and Goodyear answering the phone all day.

So my suggestion is just do it, if the call is to find out how late a store is open and you find that out,no matter how much you stutter,,SUCCESS!

[amey]

Tell the listener that you are a person who stutters. At that point, they will know what to expect and you will no longer feel the pressure to present yourself as a fluent speaker. Suprisingly, you will have less struggle! try it out! good luck!

[nowayout]

For everyone who stutter, attending phone is the scariest part ..
I usually try to rehe what I need to say and which words I need to avoid while talking on phone. I try to remember how I will phrase a sentence which causes least amount of stuttering ..
After tht I just make the call and hope everything falls in place.. but sometime things do get messed up.. so best thing is to hangup the phone at tht point :)

[Francisco]

I always have a tough timw w/the phone. It's mostly just getting out the first hello. Depending on who it is I may do fine once I get going, but I hardly ever answer the phone or make calls for that reason.

[Arwitty]

I usually try to avoid the talking on the telephone as much as I can. However, if I am in that position -- I was earlier today for a SPEECHEASY appointment! A technique that helps me is to look in the mirror to see my mouth move as I speak. Another, although this may sound quite odd, is to put my hand on my mouth and feel my lips move as the I try to get out each syllable

Hope this helps!

[Bronson]

Talking on the phone is a major challenge for any stutterer. One time my car was in Wal-Mart for maintenance and i drove there in my dad's car instead of just calling and asking the person if the car was fixed or not.

[Benhoor]

If you dad helps once upon a time, it's not bad but if you rely on him to do all your calls that is more destructive than constructive to you as you let your fear of phone grow by each call by your dad!

Best way is to set SMART s to make or receive 1-2 calls every day.

another practice is to dedicate 1 weekend in a month completely practice calling others, shops, restaurants, hotels, etc.

I recently had to find a new job and had to speak on the phone. The first 2 weeks it was quite nightmare and I had so much pressure, the third week it became so easy that I got 4 interviews arranges and 1 job offer while cancelling my other interviews...!

[scott123]

Benhoor thank you for your advice it is very comforting. But as you can imagine the first step is the most terrifying for me i just feel like i cant and will never be able to do it, i suppose ive let myself slip into that mind set and it seems like theres no way back.

[amylou]

Hi. The phone is a big challenge. I do not have a problem with making calls these days. The only way to overcome it is to do it - over and over and over again. When I first started I banged things to get the words out, threw pens to force the words out. Now I just do it without many problems. I NEVER apologise or say I have a stutter - I think that sets me up to fail. I try to remember I don't know the person on the other end of the phone - I don't care if they hear me stutter. This reduces the amount of stuttering. The more you do it the more you will feel comfortable with it. At first write down some dot points of what you need to achieve in your call - then you will address everything and not need to call back and feel that the call was successful. Try easy calls first. Even things i have trouble with in person such as names and addresses just become routine in a phone call. If you need to give phone numbers or account numbers do it in blocks of 3 or 4. The pattern helps me get the numbers out confidently. Good luck.