Basically, yeah. From what it sounds like, your main block is probably the "talking in front of people" bit. So you ended up not talking at all. However, because of that, you have never really exercised the muscles you use when you speak. So to get better at talking it's best to start out practicing where nobody can hear you. Then once you're okay doing that, try to move on to talk to people you feel comfortable with. Like your brother maybe. Then you'll be able to talk to people you're not comfortable with more easily.