# Reading out loud in class



## azul (Feb 24, 2007)

Does anyone else break down halfway through reading out-loud in class at school? I start off ok, but then my heart races and my breathing goes out of control. My voice becomes shaky and I feel as though I can't get the words to speak.

Has anyone else experienced this or experienced something similar?


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## VerbalHologram (Feb 19, 2007)

i'll get mad nervous just thinking about whether i will have to read aloud...then if i do have to..uhh ohh...rapid heart rate...blushing..basically me wanting to die..


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

I always stutter and make mistakes and make a fool of myself..


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## lonewolf42 (Sep 10, 2006)

Yeah, definitely. I actually made a post about it a while ago. In my English class last semester, I would get incredibly anxious when my teacher had us go around the class reading poetry or giving our input on novels. I remember a few times I wasn't nervous at all, but I credit that mostly to the fact that she called on me spontaneously, rather than going around the class, which means I have to wait, and I know exactly when I'm coming up. It's weird, because no one really cares at all. It's like not even social interaction. You're just reading what someone else wrote. I guess it's about as irrational as any of our other fears though. Basically, my heart would be pounding and when I had to read my voice would often be weak or shaking. It was embarassing. If I saw people looking at me, I would start to sweat a little after. And no matter how hard I tried to calm my mind/body and just say "relax, you're just reading for a few seconds," it seemed like my body couldn't make the connection. Looking back, I don't think I'd be as anxious reading today, but who know.


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## Johnny1234 (Nov 16, 2006)

ugh...that is one of my worset fears, aside from presenting. W had a sub on friday and we were supposed to read by ourselves and then some genius yells out "how about reading out loud?"... luckily the ppl that wanted to read by themselves couldve ent out in the hall.


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## aznboi719 (Jan 20, 2007)

i cant read oloud in class

if i do, people cant hear me and i cant pronounced the words


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## korey (Apr 25, 2006)

I can't read aloud in class, either. Being called on to read (or even just the inevitability of it being as the teachers always started on one side of the room and went around to each person to read) triggers panic attacks in me. I had two major ones during my senior year of high school. They were terrible. I had to fake going to the restroom just so I could escape the room and go see my senior counselor. I would sit in her office and try to explain what had happened, but I would always start to cry and hyperventilate and not be able to talk _at all_. I hated it. Luckily, my counselor understood and spoke in private with each teacher who liked to call on students to read and told those teachers about my situation and that I'm never to be called on in class.

I was supposed to give a speech in front of thousands of people at my high school graduation due to my GPA, but I simply couldn't. I wrote a note to my senior counselor telling her about how I had chosen to decline it, and one day, she and the principal took me out of class and assured me that they wouldn't make me do anything that I didn't want to do at graduation, but they did ask me for suggestions as for what to do. Luckily, the other person who was to give a speech gave a special dual "academic address" with the person next down the line according to GPA.

I have no idea where this fear sprouted from or why it became so severe during junior and especially senior year of high school, but it did. I'm in college now, and there is this thing called the Americans with Disabilities Act that allows me to have my psychiatrist's office fax over some documents to my college's Disability Support Services, which allows them to send out a letter to all of my teachers stating specifically not to call on me to read aloud in class or to ever single me out, in addition to other things. It has helped me so much. Now, I don't have to worry about a teacher calling on me to read or anything like that. I can answer questions aloud in class if the teacher asks the class a question because that's never really bothered me much since it doesn't put anyone in particular on the spot, but to this day, I still cannot read aloud in front of a group of people without my voice breaking up and me eventually having an anxiety or panic attack.

I wonder why so many people have this particular tidbit of the broad spectrum of anxiety. What is it about reading aloud that makes us all so afraid? I haven't found an answer yet :con


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## azul (Feb 24, 2007)

Thank you all for the replies.

I've never really tried to define what is actually happening when I "break down" when reading aloud in class. But I wonder whether I do in fact suffer from panic attacks, without out ever realising before.

Also, I know exactly how it feels for a teacher to go around the room asking each person to read. After each person in front of you reads, the anxiety builds. Does anyone find that sometimes they get ticks, like blinking or even swallowing really loudly.


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## subzero0 (Jun 18, 2005)

azul said:


> Does anyone find that sometimes they get ticks, like blinking or even *swallowing really loudly*.


yes! when i have to read something out loud i get really nervous so i forget to breathe. then when i start choking on my words and have no more air to breathe, i'll like stop in a middle of a sentence which sucks cuz then people stare at you like wtf why did she stop then i do this one big GULP, catch my breath then i keep going. so embarrassing.

whenever i read out loud i seriously feel like im going to start crying or have a nervous breakdown or something. its terrible.


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## TheShadowAtNight (Feb 13, 2007)

I was homeschooled from middle school onwards (when my anxiety got really bad, I refused to go to school cause of it), so I don't really know what it's like to read aloud in class while having really bad social anxiety but yeah it must suck. I remember in like 4th grade (when my anxiety seemed to start but wasn't that bad) we had to read aloud paragraphs and once you're done ud call another person too and it'd be boy then girl then boy then girl etc. Anyway it'd be one of my "friends" who's reading aloud. Then the teacher would be like now pick a girl, and he'd say my name. lol If that had happened in 7th grade or later though damn that would have been bad. 

Anyway.. just thought I'd post that lol *shrugs*


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## Andrea (Sep 1, 2004)

I always got really anxious when reading aloud in class. In first grade, I was put in the special ed program for reading, I could read above my age level at that time. I think that because I never talked or expressed anything at school they thought I had a reading disabillity. :con 

andrea


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## njodis (Nov 8, 2006)

I'll tell you what sucks: having your english teacher in highschool make you read a sex scene out loud. Yes, it happened to me.


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## Prism (Dec 17, 2004)

> I'll tell you what sucks: having your english teacher in highschool make you read a sex scene out loud. Yes, it happened to me.


Wow that is ridiculous...but I have to admit when I first read that I laughed. I wonder what's more anxiety inducing, telling the teacher you refuse to read something because you find it offensive, or reading said offensive material in front of the class.

Personally reading in front of people has made me anxious ever since I was in 7th grade....my friend told me how when I read in front of class by voice sounds stupid (I don't remember exactly how he worded it but that will do) but when I talk just in a regular conversation my voice is fine. So from that moment I believe I was always self-conscious about reading.

Isn't it amazing how we let a passing comment affect us so much?


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## marys (Mar 2, 2007)

If reading aloud is important in school or your job and could hold you back from getting a promotion, maybe you should take anti-anxiety medication. It worked for me.


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## Softy785 (Apr 16, 2006)

I had a professor that made us each read aloud our answer to the homework assignment, every class period. Actually, it never bothered me too much, probably because there were very few people in the class, and I felt confident that my answer was correct. I think a lot of the nervousness can be controlled by continuously feeding ourselves rational self-talk about what we're doing. like for example, "reading out loud in front of other people is no big deal, and I'm going to be ok regardless of what happens and be glad that I did it" or "i've done this before, so i know i can do it again. this anxiety is irrational, and i'm just going to keep moving forward and do what i have to do". Also, slow talking your answer helps, as it has a calming effect and can make you feel less anxious.


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## aw1993 (Aug 8, 2011)

this is basically what my social anxiety has mainly manifested itself around. I psyche myself out in waves becalming calm about reading then freaking out then calm then once it gets to be my turn my subconscious kicks in my flight or flight response, my throat closes up, my voice shakes, i skip over words, i sound retarded until i get past 1 page and begin to calm down but i still left the impression i'm a freak to the class. my fear isn't the class or the reading. its the fear of this automatic response that happens during this that is so embarrassing. what i fear becomes my fate in the end.


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## Lets Beat Social Anxiety (Jul 12, 2010)

Reading out loud at school makes quite a lot of calm people at least slightly nervous. Don't think you're the only one in the class. Infact, more people suffer from SA than you think, it's just that they hide it well so you don't see them. You probably hide it well yourself.

Here's some tips to make it easier:

1. Consciously correct your breathing. Longer breaths out than in. For example, 5 seconds out, 3 seconds in. Rapid breathing (hyperventilation) creates imbalances of carbon dioxide and oxygen in your blood. This is what leads you closer to panic, and it's why your number one priority should be correcting your breathing - it will undo the stuff that leads to panic.

2. Try to ignore symptoms like a racing heart. I know it's really noticeable and scary, but no person on earth has ever died of a panic attack. It will pass, and you will be just as healthy as you were before.


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## nycdude (Mar 20, 2010)

I hate reading aloud. My ears get hot, heart is pounding, I can't read loud enough. I make it through but I feel embarrassed afterwards. But there are days where if I feel good with some adrenaline running I don't feel nervous.


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## citylove (Oct 13, 2011)

I have the same problem ! I've been on 4 anxiety meds nothing works. It's really weird telling people i get nervous reading in front of the class, like why me !
I really want to do cyber school but i'm not allowed. It sucks !!
My heart beats sooo fast and i take deep breaths after every word...it's embarassing.


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## Wintergreen (Mar 5, 2011)

I'm convinced reading out loud is just something teachers do to kill time. We did it a lot in high school and I constantly wanted to slam my head on the desk.


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## anxiousguy (Aug 7, 2011)

My heart will pound like crazy until I am finished speaking.


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## hopelesslyshy (Oct 27, 2008)

This is definitely one of the most anxiety inducing situations for me. I'm not in school right now, but I dreaded reading out loud when I was. It was all I could focus on during class. Actually, I talked to one of my teachers about it in 9th grade and they purposely wouldn't call on me which was nice. Reading out loud and presentations were pretty much the reasons that I started taking classes online instead.


i love seinfeld said:


> yes! when i have to read something out loud i get really nervous so i forget to breathe. then when i start choking on my words and have no more air to breathe, i'll like stop in a middle of a sentence which sucks cuz then people stare at you like wtf why did she stop then i do this one big GULP, catch my breath then i keep going. so embarrassing.
> 
> whenever i read out loud i seriously feel like im going to start crying or have a nervous breakdown or something. its terrible.


This is basically the exact way I responded to reading out loud too. I hate how it feels like you're running out of breath. Plus my face would get really hot and red which was embarrassing if anyone looked back at me.


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## determination (Jul 22, 2011)

I have a 12 minute speech coming up. If I go to the doctor and get a note do you think I will be able to just present my speech to my teacher and not the whole class? I'm in yr 12 tertiary in Australia if that matters. I have social anxiety disorder, panic disorder and general anxiety disorder.


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## Ortelius (Aug 22, 2011)

I'm the same. Start of ok, but then it's down hill. I can't speak for longer periods because then I get too shaky and warm. :time I also have it difficult to focus when I'm talking and that makes it all worse...


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## Double Indemnity (Aug 15, 2011)

This used to happen to me in college. In one particular class the instructor would randomly call on us to read. I would get so nervous and overwhelmed. It was like a mini panic attack each time. I had no idea I had SA at the time. There really wasn't a term for it like there is now. To make matters worse the instructor knew I had difficulty reading aloud (to put it mildly) and would call on me intentionally. I think she thought her doing so would be helpful. I would stop reading and look up as if asking for permission to stop but she wanted me to continue so I somehow mustered through it.


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## jonny neurotic (Jan 20, 2011)

Funny thing, I never had a problem with this. I have always been quiet and mumbled a lot when I was younger but reading aloud in class was no problem for me. I ignored everyone in the class and just focused on the page. I would imagine someone else reading the story to me and just make the sounds that I was hearing in my minds ear(so to speak). So long as I was not making eye contact or standing at the front of the class I was fine speaking up. 

Only other time was when I was asked to say my name by a new teacher. Could never get my name out. To many syllables. My toungue would trip over them. 

Terrible business...


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## Noll (Mar 29, 2011)

Reading out loud sucks.


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## Perkins (Dec 14, 2010)

I usually stammer when they ask me to read something out loud to the class. Fun stuff.


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## Jakeyd1980 (Sep 13, 2012)

*Reading out loud...*

I used to be a pro whenever called on for reading in class. The class (Sophomore classroom) nominated me as Romeo and I had to sit and read all of those lines. And then from who-the-h-knows-where, I began to get all anxious and nervous, and incredibly self-conscious. My Junior year of high-school I could no longer read out loud. I always looked at my self as very social and popular regarding sports, dated the hot girls, high GPA, etc. This has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life. And I still have it and I am now 31 years old. It's a curse and a blessing. I don't hold myself in high regards as the greatest person ever anymore. I know I'm not.

When it is spontaneous, and I am called on and it's something short I can read it, or muster through it before my nerves attack me. But if it's a long paragraph, I will certainly lose all air, my heart will beat incredibly fast, and I absolutely cannot talk myself out of this panick attack. I remember everyone in class turning to look at me because I was seriously dying in class my Junior year of high school. My teacher (that ****) was a fat-*** loser, and he knew I was a cocky/popular guy (I was a straight-A student, and he's a loser teaching a ****ty class), so he would pick on me by making me suffer with reading and then have a smirk on his face after I seriously suffered. If you think I'm making this up, you're wrong. He liked seeing me suffer... I forgive him, but I remember what he did to me.

My attacks are caused by anticipation. I will do everything in my will to calm my breathing, focus on something else, tell myself everything will be ok, nobody cares about my breathing, but as it gets closer to my turn to read... My heart about explodes (seriously can't be good for my heart to beat like that). I'll be ok for about 2 sentences and then I can't even breath anymore and it's a struggle to even pronounce a word. I can't even apologize to people, nothing, because I can't even breath... I'm telling you, it's absolutely horrible. And until you've actually experienced it, you will never understand how hard it is to deal with.

To say it's simple to calm and relax is wrong. Until you have suffered a couple of panick attacks you cannot tell me how to deal with them, they are very very difficult to deal with. I however refuse to let them ruin my life. Whenever people are going around a circle reading, I simply say "I pass," or "I don't want to read at this time," or I'll just say it out loud that I'm the worlds worst reader (I read for like 3 hours a day, so obviously a lie) and I seriously don't want to read, and everyone in the group accepts that and they move along. They'll usually take it that I'm rude, but screw them. They don't know how much I suffer. I really suffer with this you guys.

I deal with my anxiety by not dealing with it in a way. I refuse to take Propanolol (Beta-Blocker/Anti-Anxiety med), I just don't read out loud in groups, and when I say no thanks, I say it with meaning and it's not a problem. If it is, I will tell people afterwards why, and explain my anxiety quickly. Everyone is very understanding with me once they understand.

I have embarrassed myself enough times, and made a fool of myself enough times to know that facing this head-on will not help any longer. I'm tired of embarrassing myself, so I just don't. If I have to give a speech I will say it in the mirror to myself about 70 times until it's a joke, and then the speech is manageable. But man do I hate anticipation. Even in a group of 4 I get nervous.

It has been one of the most humbling things to happen in my life, and in a way it's a blessing. I am a very humble person now, and incredibly understanding towards everyone with any sort of disorder. I will go out of my way to talk to anyone that sounds nervous and talk to them about it and identify with them so that they don't feel terrible or out of place. I guess we all have to find our way to cope with it. Mine will not be with medications. I like having a liver and refuse to rely on any meds...

My meds are healthy eating, drinking mainly water and lots of exercise.

Oh, and I'll finish with this. Panick attacks suck. But we all have our issues to deal with. Those that do not have social anxiety/panick attacks suffer from something else, I guarantee it. Everybody has a few issues, and none of us our perfect. If someone refuses to admit that they have an issue, then that person is a liar and an arrogant prick. But their time will come, and eventually that person will be humbled.


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## Rakostendor (Sep 20, 2012)

I always get nervous reading aloud in class. I used to be one of the best readers in class and I loved it. When I was younger I even got to teach little children how to read. And look at me now.. Often I get panic attacks when the teacher starts picking people to read aloud. And if I have to read my face gets all red, I stumble, have a hard time breathing, my heart beats like crazy, etc.

But because of my anxiety problems I stay home more often to read and write. I can search the internet for hours on a subject that interests me and write about it  So in a way it's also a good thing.


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## Bluemonster (Feb 15, 2012)

I used to do this quite often when I was at school. Everyone in the class usually had to read a paragraph each so I could usually tell where the person before me would end. I used read the paragraph over and over again until it was my turn. What was worse was when we had to read plays  There weren't very many in my English Lit part so most of the time, all of us had to be a character. I always read really fast, but I didn't mind about that because I just wanted it to be other with.


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## Eudirya (Jan 7, 2013)

I have horrible memories from reading out loud at school, now at uni we don't usually get called on to read out loud, except last semester there was a lecturer who liked to pick someone to read out his powerpoint slide. I don't typically skip lectures, but I skipped about 80 % of his lectures because I don't want to ever ever ever read out loud again.


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## tbyrfan (Feb 24, 2011)

I'm okay reading out loud because i'm sitting down and nobody is looking at me - they're following along instead. I just can't read anything standing in front of the class.


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## madisonxo (Nov 4, 2013)

Jakeyd1980 said:


> I used to be a pro whenever called on for reading in class. The class (Sophomore classroom) nominated me as Romeo and I had to sit and read all of those lines. And then from who-the-h-knows-where, I began to get all anxious and nervous, and incredibly self-conscious. My Junior year of high-school I could no longer read out loud. I always looked at my self as very social and popular regarding sports, dated the hot girls, high GPA, etc. This has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life. And I still have it and I am now 31 years old. It's a curse and a blessing. I don't hold myself in high regards as the greatest person ever anymore. I know I'm not.
> 
> When it is spontaneous, and I am called on and it's something short I can read it, or muster through it before my nerves attack me. But if it's a long paragraph, I will certainly lose all air, my heart will beat incredibly fast, and I absolutely cannot talk myself out of this panick attack. I remember everyone in class turning to look at me because I was seriously dying in class my Junior year of high school. My teacher (that ****) was a fat-*** loser, and he knew I was a cocky/popular guy (I was a straight-A student, and he's a loser teaching a ****ty class), so he would pick on me by making me suffer with reading and then have a smirk on his face after I seriously suffered. If you think I'm making this up, you're wrong. He liked seeing me suffer... I forgive him, but I remember what he did to me.
> 
> ...


omg i could not have said it better myself, finally someone feels the way I do! its not like im anti social im actually a very social person and I used to be so good at reading until my junior year of high school and im not sure why! its actually so awful especially since i know its so irrational, but youre right we all have stuff to do deal with.


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## Myr (Jan 6, 2013)

Did that a lot in middle and high school -- one of the reasons I abhorred going to school. I eventually just e-mailed my teachers about it, let them know I had anxiety and it was affecting my ability to learn whenever they called on me, and they stopped.


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## Myr (Jan 6, 2013)

determination said:


> I have a 12 minute speech coming up. If I go to the doctor and get a note do you think I will be able to just present my speech to my teacher and not the whole class? I'm in yr 12 tertiary in Australia if that matters. I have social anxiety disorder, panic disorder and general anxiety disorder.


YES. Communicate with your teachers and they generally are willing to make accommodations for you.


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## visualkeirockstar (Aug 5, 2012)

Yes. Its not normal to hear myself talk for a long time so it usually doesn't end well.


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## valiko (Mar 8, 2014)

*Possible Solution*

Hey Guys, I think I might have a solution. I also used to suffer from an actual mini panic attack whenever I was asked to read in front of people. I'd like to write about what I did to overcome this. By the way, the typical bull**** advice normally given, such as 'picture everyone naked,' 'focus on the story,' don't make eye contact,' etc. does does not work with this particular problem, so forget about it.

First a brief summary of the problem: 
You are asked to read. Though you are a good reader, and you understand with your intellect that there is nothing to fear, your brain obviously does not and puts your body into a primal "there's a tiger, I need to get out of here fast" mode. Your heart rate goes crazy, your face turns read, and you are unable to control your breathing. You start readying and perhaps get through the first sentence without problems, but then your revolting body catches up to you. You are forced to take breaks between each word to catch your breath, your voice shakes. I know how humiliating this is.

Now, most of the proposed solutions are based on the following principle:
"Apply all possible techniques to *prevent* the panic attack from setting in."

My problem with this was that, no matter what I did, I could not control my body when I actually did get nervous. I remember one time I did manage to calm myself down when asked to read in front of a group of friends. I read like a pro and was convinced that I had overcome my problem. However, that positive experience failed to change me. Next time I was asked to read in front of a class (mind you I was feeling confident after that time with my friends) the panic returned nonetheless and I bombed. Everything returned, the racing pulse, shaking voice, etc.

Then I realized one thing: You can't control your brain's panic response. It's gonna be there when you get nervous, even if you practiced in front of groups that don't make you feel nervous. All it takes if for the stakes to be raised, and your brain will fail you. However, what you can do is simulate a panic attack and train yourself to read out loud while it's actually happening.

Try this: Open a book and choose a paragraph. Set it down and do jumping jacks as fast as you can for 20-30 seconds. Now pick up the book and start reading. Your heart should be racing, and you should be out of breath. You'll find that you are replicating the conditions of reading out loud in class. This should make you very happy, because now you can practice and get good at reading in these conditions. The key is to train yourself to control your breathing while your pulse is very high. You'll find that this is very hard to do at first but it will get easier. Eventually your lungs will be independent of your pulse, and you will have control even when your heart is racing and your body is begging you for extra breaths.

The key is not in preventing the panic but in learning to perform during the panic. That way, when you are asked to read and your heart rate shoots up, you'll be able to do a decent job of getting through the first paragraph and you will calm down by the 2nd or 3rd paragraph. The hurricane inside of you will be known only to you and not the class.

If you are suffering from the problem that I described, I highly recommend you try this.


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## ThisIsRandom (Feb 6, 2014)

I would often get lost in what i was reading because i had the tendency to focus on all the people listening trying not to fail and end up failing. It was no help when alot of my classmates where "slow readers" or would stumble over words like systematic which then made me try to curb my reading to match the others and yea..i hated reading out loud lol


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## SD92 (Nov 9, 2013)

I used to hate having to do this. I hoped beyond hope that the teacher wouldn't pick me to read out loud. When he/she did I gulped and nervously read with a trembling voice. You'd always get the sarcastic "Oh he can talk after all" or "That's the first time I've heard him say more than two words"

The worst time was when I had to read a speech out in front of the class, my legs were noticeably shaking, which started to make me even more anxious. I somehow managed to get through it, and felt "high" after due to the adrenaline rush. One positive about Social Anxiety is that it's easier to be a "adrenaline junkie". Some people throw themselves out of planes, I just try to talk to people.


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## failed101 (Dec 13, 2012)

We were reading a document from russia in apworld and everybody pretty much butchered the names and places. We all laughed together though and carried on. I think my nervousness hasn't really risen with reading because the community in school is just really open and tolerant of mistakes of those. 

However, a way to cope with reading out loud is just to take note of other people reading and see how others react to them real closely. Most of the time you would always notice that nothing happens at all! or at least just indifference. It pretty much went away when I saw other people speaking, even with stutters, and nobody else batted an eyelash.


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## Bert Reynolds (Dec 18, 2013)

I had this happen to me before. In one particular situation in an English seminar class I was doing alright at first but then all of a sudden my thoughts changed and instantaneously my mind followed along. Rapid heartbeat, shaky voice and worst of all my breathing. I eventually ran out of breath to the point where I literally could not get out a sound, let alone a word. I was basically choking and everyone including the professor must of thought I was having a heart attack or something. Not a pleasant experience.


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## Lonelyguy111 (Oct 14, 2013)

Used to terrify me but now does not bother me at all;
in fact sometimes I actually enjoy it. Gives me a chance to ham it up.


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## ZADY (Nov 11, 2013)

Yes my face gets heated, speak really soft, shaky voice and can't pronounce the words properly


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## tearsforfears (Feb 28, 2014)

I'm generally okay with reading out loud now although my voice does shake sometimes at the beginning.

However two years ago i remember i had to do a speech in front of my class and promptly broke down crying through the middle of it, before finishing in tears.

Not my proudest moment. It was a one time thing though.


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## oood (Nov 1, 2012)

In high school I could barely handle reading out loud, let alone answering a question or offering an opinion. With the latter especially I felt like my words came out almost in a complete vacuum, like my state of panic was so extreme I morphed into an alternate reality where no-one else existed and even I as a person didn't exist, only my shaky sentences did. So as you can imagine I haven't been able to deal with uni tutorials at all and lost a lot of marks and knowledge for avoiding most of them. I'd rather fail than force myself to go through that kind of fear four times a week.


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## Stripey (Mar 29, 2014)

Identifying with all of these. It sucks but I think avoiding it has made it worse for me? I chose uni classes that didn't have speech components and skipped tutorials when I knew I might be asked to read. A few years on and I can't read aloud to a friend without getting panicky, and my job involves a lot of this kind of stuff. Can't help thinking: what if I'd exposed myself to it then? Would I be past it?


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## LoungeFly (Jun 25, 2011)

azul said:


> Does anyone else break down halfway through reading out-loud in class at school? I start off ok, but then my heart races and my breathing goes out of control. My voice becomes shaky and I feel as though I can't get the words to speak.
> 
> Has anyone else experienced this or experienced something similar?


Its been a while since ive been in school,but ill never forget the time in science class where i mispronounced organism for orgasm. Oh, how the class laughed and i wanted to crawl in a hole. I was probably 15.


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## JH1983 (Nov 14, 2013)

I was never fond of it, but I have an easier time with reading something than giving my own thoughts or opinions that could be criticized or that I could forget what I was saying right in the middle of.


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## anxietysux9 (Mar 25, 2014)

I had to do this project at the end of my class that required me to stand up infront of the class and explain stuff have a slideshow up on the screen...guess what i dropped the class at the end before that because my anxiety was already bad isnt that great never being able to fcking finish school because of this ****ing disorder


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## JoJoStephens (May 30, 2014)

I remeber having this problem when I was a freshman at my school.
Anyone reading this, who's having the same problem, you don't have to worry, there is a fix or cure for this.
The only thing you have to do is PRACTICE. Practice makes perfect guys, I promise, I know exactly how you feel, and you may think practicing won't work, but it does. Practice everyday, but not just like 2 mins, practice like 20 mins a day with someone you trust, it can be your mom, dad, siblings, etc. or even alone.
Read a book or whatever out loud to that person that is hearing, or to yourself and you willl notice you start feeling a bit nervous, as if you were in class, but just keep going and break that feeling, doesn't matter if your voice cracks, if you can't breathe well, just keep going, and after like a week you will be much better at it. I had this problem and now I am perfectly fine with it, I even enjoy doing it, I speak in front a lot of people and that i'm perfectly fine.
So yeah, go and practicee


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## chocolate milk (Oct 27, 2016)

This started happening when I was in 6th grade. I was feeling so insecure at my new school, I didn't know anyone. And I was afraid to talk with them because I thought they'd make fun of me. There was this kid in my class, he was making fun of everyone. He was a nerd. (And probably still is!) You know those people who try to make you feel bad so that they can success? Yep! He was one of those people. So one day, the teacher thought making me read a LONG paragraph out loud was a great idea. And I was just shy, honestly. I didn't even know what "anxiety" was. (Until that day.) I started reading it. Everything was going good. But I skipped 2 words or something. And then that stupid kid told me that I read HORRIBLE. All my friends started laughing. That made me feel so bad about myself. Then, whenever the teacher told me to read, I had an excuse. I told her that I couldn't read because I'm sick, not feeling well etc. Then I didn't read anything for literally 1-2 years! LOL. I WAS ALWAYS MAKING UP SOME RANDOM STUFF. But I knew that I couldn't escape. So one day, again, this teacher called me out. (I was in 8th grade) I started shaking and told her I really do not want to read it. Of course, she didn't want me to be "shy", and thought that if I read it out loud, I'd feel much better. Yep, guess what happened? My voice got shaky and cracked a lot, I was shaking horribly and I stopped in the middle of the paragraph, told her that I can't do it. The whole classroom was staring at me at this point. I felt so much pressure. She told me I had to go on. Then I started crying and even that nerd kid felt sorry for me. :-( 

Thinking about this makes me want to punch myself. This is how my anxiety started. Reading out loud was a big problem for me, still is. Now I'm gonna tell you what happened 3 days ago at English class. (I'm in 11th grade now.)
The teacher gave me something to read (It was a paragraph -not so long). I felt shaky again. My best friend was next to me, so she tried to make me laugh. That did not work AT ALL. I was laughing and panicking at the same time... LOL I KNOW IT SOUNDS SO FUNNY. But it was so cringey.

Yep, held all these stuff inside me, never thought I would share them on an anxiety forum.

Today, at English class, people were reading stuff. LUCKILY NOBODY PICKED ME! But I still felt really bad and realized that I can't live with this anymore. I will read paragraphs in the future, no big deal. But I don't feel ready. Whenever I'm reading a paragraph I feel like I'm gonna have a panic attack or people will make fun of my mistakes. I get all shaky and can't control anything. Please help me. This is why I joined this site. :-(

By the way, I'm not that good at English, I hope I did not make any mistakes. 

Thanks for reading, I'm waiting for your help.


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