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From: Julie C
Date: 19 Oct 2010
Time: 19:04:37 -0500
Remote Name: 69.86.3.7
Thank you for sharing your story, it was truly touching and a great depiction of the effect stuttering can have on an entire family. As a graduate student, I have recently been learning about the many, unpredictable reactions that parents have to their child's stuttering. Ignoring and denying the communication difference seems to be a prominent approach that families take, and it wasn't until reading your post that I noticed this in my own family. My cousin, who is one of my closest friends, speaks with a mild stutter- although we have never actually talked about the stutter. She has never seen an SLP for this, and I have never heard anyone in my family discuss it. I've always noticed and accepted it as the way she speaks, not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable if I were to bring it up. Now that I am being exposed to the affective and cognitive aspects that accompany a stutter, I am realizing the lack of emotional support she has had over the years for this communication difference. Her self-confidence has always been pretty low and I thought the stutter was a result of this, but now that I am learning about stuttering I realize this might actually be the other way around. I would love to be there for her and even suggest that she see an SLP, but I am unsure of how to approach this topic. With parents who avoided your stutter, what encouraged you to see an SLP in your college years? And how do you think you would have felt if a family member had acknowledged your stutter before you sat them down to talk about it? Do you have any advice on what I can say to approach this topic, keeping in mind the fact that she is 25 and I am 22 years old? Thank you.