This got long but I left it, I am often told my intro can be disarming: Practicing an intro that flat out tells people before I get ahead of myself really has helped even though it's 100% to make other people more comfortable so THEY aren't embarrassed for laughing to some degree at a sound I make BEFORE they can tell what's going on. It disarms people and I actually feel like when you tell people fluently about the problem if they aren't accommodating they usually at least aren't cruel. People tell me sometimes they dont expect a person with a speech impediment to start off saying the words speech impediment right off the bat and sometimes if I feel like there is less pressure to be fluent I will be more fluent!! To the degree that on a good day someone I advised might actually think I was kidding or over reacting! I assume if they are going to find out I can tell them before their ear tells them! I went years trying to push through because SLP did not at all address and actually aggravated the main factor in my dis fluency which was people expecting a bright kid to just figure it out already. I bet a lot of stutters main complaint is about the expectations of others and realizing people have expectations they dont even know they have. The polite strangers on this or that phone call who audibly snort or laugh and say "what was THAT" who are then mortified... they reacted like I jumped out at them I worry that's why people react the ways they often do, its like they're looking or listening for communication clues and I glitch for a moment. If people have not seen anyone cope with speech problems they just wont know how to react even if they dont mean any harm. It's tough to reason with this because doing things just for the comfort of strangers is a chore but there is the payoff of a little less stress on me. I dont really like the surveys I have seen so forgive me for passing on it. A lot of the questions are orderly and approach stutterers pathologically and that's a really weird thing for me to respond to with thoughtful answers. Even being fluent sometimes being afraid to stutter at any time doesn't go away during fluent moments I'm just lucky the people I love have gotten used to the way I talk and at this point all I can hope is the awkward experiences I have had led to people being more sensitive speaking to strangers or colleagues. At least they might know people speak in different ways and it cannot always be helped or predictable. Anecdotally I do not use the word stutterer because its like that's a trap. I have a tactic for starting with s, p helps s, double e is easy and ch is a natural blocking type aound which turns nicely into the Im and ped-EH-MENT took some time but doing it quick actually helps me. I found learning to cope has helped me more than agonize over this seemingly fictional time when I might "attain fluency" or something... those expectations from family therapists society and myself never did anything to improve my ability to communicate near seamlessly with others who may be ignorant and have no true obligation to be understanding. I am proud for people whom SLP has worked dont get me wrong it just made me feel a lot worse about speaking at all. Now people here are vaccinated and to be honest it's tough to get me to shut up! I think being passionate to see people I am less concerned about whether I will stutter and can speak with less worry about fluency which makes me more fluent usually. Ta!