For Teens

If you are searching through this page, there is a good chance that you are a teen who stutters. You may have stuttered for some time; and you probably have experienced some level of speech therapy either privately or in the school setting.

Hopefully, your experiences with therapy have been productive and positive. Whether they have or not, you are most likely searching for information about yourself and your stuttering.

This site will allow you to learn more about speech therapy including updating you on new therapy techniques, clinical advances and research findings on stuttering. You will be able to search for therapists who specialize in stuttering, and you will have access to a great deal of information that will assist you in determining your goals for the future.

You may be experiencing many conflicts that will certainly affect your therapy and your stuttering. These issues may include peer pressure, teasing, identity issues and feelings of frustration, anxiety, shame and guilt.

You may be struggling with the fact that you are too old and mature to rely on the therapy methods employed in the past that held your parents responsible for therapy. However, you may not be fully able to accept complete responsibility for your stuttering and the therapeutic process. For example, you may still need your parents to help with transportation or the paperwork involved with insurance reimbursement.

Finally, you should be congratulated for seeking more information about your stuttering. Knowledge is power and increasing your understanding and awareness of stuttering will allow you to make better decisions regarding what you and your family need for the future.

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Lewis Carroll

The recent Disney version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland, garnered a great deal of media hype. Even though the mainstream media has not made mention that Carroll was a person who stuttered, his family history gives credence to the discovery of the genetic link to stuttering. Carroll was born to parents who were first cousins; almost all of their eleven children, three girls and seven boys, struggled with stuttering past childhood.

Winston Churchill

Seeking to "remove Winston Churchill's stutter by second guessing the diagnosis" indicates neither a truthful retelling of history nor an informed opinion about a complex speech disorder, say experts in the field of speech-language pathology.

Recent news reports that quote Dr. John Mather, a Washington physician, as saying that Churchill's stutter "is a lie" brought adamant critical response from specialists in the field of stuttering and fluency disorders.

Bill Withers

While Bill Withers has long been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter, many people probably didn’t realize he stuttered. He passed away on March 30, 2020.

Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, W.V., Withers was the youngest of six children. When his father died when Withers was small, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as domestics.

Kenyon Martin

Kenyon Martin, the basketball sensation who was named to the NBA’s All Star Team in 2004, joins other famous people who stutter in a new brochure. The brochure - which unfolds into a small poster - is available free of charge from The Stuttering Foundation.

The poster is intended to give children and adults who stutter inspiration as they grapple with their speech disorder.

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, is well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones has spoken some of the most memorable lines in the history of American film, but the man known for his voice was once afflicted with a severe stutter.