Teacher Asks For Help (advice column)

By Dr. ROBERT WALLACE

Dr. Wallace: I am an elementary teacher. This is my first year of teaching, and I enjoy it very much. I am very conscientious, and I want to do the very best job possible. Next semester I will have a student who stutters. The teacher who has him now doesn't feel she has helped him overcome his handicap. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
- Teacher, Tacoma, Wash.

Teacher: The Stuttering Foundation of America has an abundance of referenced materials to help friends, parents and teachers work with those who stutter. The Stuttering Foundation recommends that when you are with someone who stutters you should:- Refrain from making remarks like "Slow down," "Take a breath" or "Relax." Such simplistic advice can be perceived as demeaning and is never helpful.

- Maintain natural eye contact and try not to look embarrassed or shocked. Just wait patiently until the person is finished. You will be tempted to finish sentences or fill in words. Try not to do this.

- Use a relatively slow, relaxed rate in your own conversational speech, but not so slow as to sound unnatural.

- Let the person know by your manner and actions that you are listening to what he or she says, not how they say it.

- Be aware that those who stutter usually have more trouble controlling their speech while on the telephone. Please be extra patient in this situation. If the phone rings and you hear nothing when you answer, make sure before you hang up that it's not a person who stutters trying to initiate conversation.

The Stuttering Foundation of America is a wonderful organization dedicated to the treatment and prevention of stuttering. For more information, write to them at: P.O. Box 11749, Memphis, TN, 38111-0749, and ask for information to help teachers.

CELEBRITY FOCUS

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.

Bob Love

Bob Love has dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

Emily Blunt

Actress Emily Blunt struggled with stuttering early in her life. A teacher encouraged her to act in a school play at age 12 despite her stuttering.

Blunt’s name is prominently featured on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter.

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.