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Stammering at school An excerpt from a memoir called 'Don't Be So Sensitive'. This relates to when I was 15. "In my ‘O’ level year the problem peaked because I did so many subjects involving reading aloud – English, French, Spanish, and German. These were my best subjects but a stammerer couldn’t have made life harder for himself if he’d tried. Every time, in one of those classes, we took turns to read, I would be scanning ahead and wondering how long my blocks would last. If we did a paragraph each it was easy to anticipate my section. By the time it was my turn, I’d be shaking and gasping. Speaking became an emotional experience, not an automatic one. The prelude to my reading was a long, silent, strangulated block. Like 15 seconds – which is a long time for the rest of the class who wouldn’t have given a second thought to stammering. Any oral exam, in French, German and Spanish, was something to be dreaded but, particularly, my ‘O’ level English talk when I had to give a presentation to the class. I should have asked to be excused from reading or sought some dispensation when I had an oral exam. But, especially during classes when I had to read aloud and each boy did his stint in turn, it would have looked strange if I’d opted out. And, naturally, given the sadism of teenage boys, others pounced on my misery. "