My speech therapist taught me many tricks to control it. I learned all this when I was 7-8 years old so I’ve long forgotten what the strategies are called, just how to use them (they’re really like second nature). One trick I use that I know many frown on these days is word substitution, if I know a certain word is going to cause me to stutter, I’ll pick another one that I know will not that has the same or similar meaning. Doing this forced me to greatly expand my vocabulary and people have often times remarked at how well spoken and learned I am (which is extremely ironic given how difficult speaking can be at times). Something else I learned was that speech and singing come from different parts of the brain, so if I have a presentation to give in front of a large crowd, for example, I’ll practice my speech like it’s a performance and I’ll focus on breathing and pace of the words. This kicks in the part of the brain that a singer would use which isn’t effected by stuttering. And lastly, sometimes just taking a deep breath and closing my eyes for a second to reset things can be very helpful. Speaking slower and more methodically can also help if I’m at a big party or celebration with a lot of people chit chatting. All of this can be very draining, many times I’ll leave an event completely exhausted. What people without a stutter don’t understand is how much energy it requires to speak when the words just don’t always flow out so effortlessly like they do for them.