Tyyy!! I relate to you sooo muchhh. Don’t worry, I understand your explanation. Ikr, saying “thank you” to my teachers when they’re helping me one on one is so hardd. I also feel hurt when I can’t thank them due to my stutter too. I also push through it but whenever I do, my “thank you” would turn out to be a “dank you”(I struggle so hard with th words, I can’t even say the word “the” out loud) and I’m so embarrassed by it but I think they got the message since all of my teachers know I have a stutter. You may want to let all of your professors know that you stutter and I think they will definitely understand you and not misunderstand you as rude because you’re really not rude at all :) I usually let them know about my stutter by email since I’m more comfortable with that. Just a idea. Also, on days when my speech is really bad, I just say “ohhh”, make eye contact, smile to them and give them a thumbs up to show my appreciation and understanding to them. I think adding a buffer to the beginning of my sentences will be a struggle since I tend to say words in syllables to try to reduce stuttering. So words like “appreciate” and “worry” are challenging for me and I don’t think I can do great with buffers but I will definitely give it a try and hopefully things will turn out okay :) Tyyy again!