Because I am dealing with some minor social anxiety issues, I know that I have issues with speaking. One of my biggest problems is the ability to talk slowly and clearly. I usually spit out my words very quickly and make no sense and jumble up all my woods. Because I know that I speak this way, I have the tendency to fear speaking since I worry about other people not being able to understand me. What I've found is that one way to improve the way that I speak is to read aloud more often. Whenever I have the time alone in my home to do this, I will pick a book and read aloud from it for about a half an hour.
This probably sounds really silly, but I have noticed that there is a significant difference in the way I enunciate and pronounce words after doing this for about a month. I am more conscious of the way I speak, and I feel a bit less nervous about speaking to other people since I know my manner of speaking has improved some.
So what better way to help improve myself than to read aloud from some books written for people who struggle with being socially inept? I figure if I am going to spend so much time reading out loud, I may as well read out loud from some books that will help improve me even further. The link I posted has some great book recommendations. I've already read one of the books on the list and it was really good. I'll probably pick up another one sometime this week!
