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From: D. Kerns
Date: 03 Oct 2007
Time: 21:49:42 -0500
Remote Name: 72.71.78.75
Dr. Shapiro, You are truly an inspiration to anyone struggling with speech or fluency disorders. Your article was sincere and brought back memories I had as a young child struggling with my own speech demons. As you described in the article, it is the people to whom you are the closest to that are the ones that always see past these differences. "Being Real" is about accepting yourself and not giving up on the things that you want to suceed at. While sitting in front of that mirror as a young girl practicing my list of words I had to bring home every week, I will always remember what my mother would tell me. She would say "princess you can do whatever you set your little mind to and never ever let anyone tell you any different. I no longer go to speech therapy, but I have always carried in my heart what my mother has told me. And you know what? She has always been right. I was told that I could not play volleyball when I was 10 yrs old because I was too short, but I played anyway. I practiced hard because I loved playing the sport and ended up being my state's player of the year in high school and then getting a scholarship to a Division I school. In college I was told by my advisor not to bother with graduate school because I did not have a 4.0 and that I should pursue my beach volleyball career. I made a mistake and listened to him for a couple years and then thought to myself what my mother had always told me. Well I applied to graduate school and now am in my first year. It has already been one of the best experiences of my life. To end I will thank you again for your article. It has brought back both good and bad memories, but has reminded me of what is important in life and that is to be happy and to be surrounded by those who make you happy.