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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 09 Oct 2008
Time: 19:09:32 -0500
Remote Name: 70.104.19.41
Hi Marlanna! Thank YOU for sharing YOUR fun with US! Isn't it amazing how all this works? When people get together in a spirit of fun, friendship and learning, EVERYONE wins! Jan's annual class project is one of the most FUN events we have. The "newbies" each year are scared to death, both the students and the people who stutter, but once we get to know one another and really ENJOY our time together, we all look back and say, "That as a blast! I can't wait till next year!" Everyone still talks about that near riot we had at our Chat and Chew Pizza meeting. Even the owners were laughing and saying ala Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, "Who ARE those guys?" Ha, ha, ha, ha! Jan was absolutely mortified that that happened, but everyone there had a blast! .... It's experiences like that which form bonds of lasting friendship and memories of fun times together. "Remember that time we... < laughing hysterically! >" When you get to know a person as a WHOLE person, not just as a voice box, it sets the stage for REALLY effective stuttering therapy. It takes BOTH the academic work as well as the real life experiences together to make a world class SLP! And that's exactly what we're trying to do with this very fun sounding paper. If Jan and I can fan this concept out to universities everywhere, it will be one of the most meaningful achievements we're ever done. .... Go to www.WeStutter.org and scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click the link "Find a local NSA support group near you" and click on New Jersey, the gray area. NSA people will welcome you with open arms (really!) if you simply show up to a meeting. I've been to the South Jersey support group in Stratford and also to the Philadelphia chapter just across the river. Since then there have been several other chapters in that region formed since then. Our NSA national conference last summer was in Parsippany, NJ, and over 600 of us had the time of our lives there! People who stutter, families, children, students and SLPs. Words fail me when I try to describe an NSA National conference. If you can possibly make it to Scottsdale, Arizona, next summer, you'll learn more and have more fun than you've ever had in your life, believe me. Come on, let's go to lunch together and have fun and get to know each other. We'll both win! ... I wish you the best in school and in your career Marlanna. I hope our paths cross some day. I'd really like that. I hope you're enjoying this wonderful ISAD conference as much as I am! .... Russ