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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 06 Oct 2006
Time: 00:06:23 -0500
Remote Name: 71.252.204.114
Hello Marni, ..... No, thank YOU! Your warm remarks have really made my day! ..... Your question about my first job interviews: That was a LONG time ago, Marni, so I'm not sure that my memory is really accurate. As I remember them however, my stuttering was not paramount in my interviews. I was rejected by a telephone company because of my stuttering, but that really didn't hurt my feelings because I didn't really want that job anyway. I went on another interview and didn't like that job either, but I forget if stuttering played any part of that. I don't think it did. I really was far more interested in what the job entailed than how much talking was involved. Remember, I was a geek - and still am. And we geeks are interested in geeky things! <grin> ..... When I went on the interview for Texas Instruments - they flew me first class down to Dallas from Chicago! - I think we were both impressed with one another. I had two interviews with them. One at Purdue University in Indiana and the other one here in Dallas. They had what I wanted to do, and apparently they thought I could do the job. Hooray! It was "manly" job on the shop floor making geeky parts for geeky (but critical defense industry) systems, and the fit seemed pretty logical. So I jumped on it. The rest, as they say, is history. ..... Yes, I struggled with my speech throughout all of those interviews, but I've NEVER been able to hide my stuttering. NEVER! In a lot of ways, I think I've been lucky that way. My stuttering has always been totally out front with no possibility of hiding a "great secret." In typical geek terms - WYSIWYG. What you see is what you get! ..... Yes, I was always very glad I went to that camp. I absolutely LOVED it! Even though it didn't help my stuttering, the camp and the people up there were amazing. One of my "speech correctionists" (as we called them back then) left camp for a week to become Miss Pennsylvania in the Miss America pageant. My swimming coach was an Olympic Silver Medalist. The camp cook was a concert pianist. The camp was filled with the most remarkable people you've ever met. I grew up there. It was a totally amazing experience. ..... I have met thousands of people who stutter in my life and it's VERY common that they feel so alone. They thought that they were the only person in the world with that problem. (The NSA motto is "If you stutter, you're not alone.) But I never felt alone. Because of my camp experience since I was ten years old, I always knew that I was not alone. As I said many times, I guess I have really been lucky. And I credit my camp experience with a lot of that luck. ..... Regarding fluency shaping (really it was a primitive form of that called "Speech Controls" in those days), I absolutely could NOT keep up the constant practice and work and effort to sustain my fluency. Even today, I can use those techniques but they only work for a short time. It's like holding a ten pound weight at arm's length. Sure you can do it for a minute or two, but for a lifetime? No way! ..... We didn't have "stuttering modification" in those days. The fundamental philosophy was "fluency good, stuttering bad." You had to do everything in your power to NOT stutter. Stuttering modification begins to recognize that you WILL stutter regardless of anything you can do, and what do you do when that happens. ..... Marni, I want you to read two papers from past ISAD conferences. And read them IN SEQUENCE. The first one deals with the Iceberg Analogy of Stuttering at http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad6/papers/hicks6.html I'm convinced that was one of the major turning points in stuttering therapy (at least in understanding stuttering) in the last fifty years. But no one knew anything about that in my days at camp. I certainly don't blame them. They just didn't know. But we DO know about it today and the understanding of the iceberg is absolutely critical to modern speech therapy for stuttering. ..... Then once you have a grasp of the iceberg, read another paper on the Iceberg MATRIX of Stuttering at http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad8/papers/hicks8/hicks8.html The matrix begins to explain what form of therapy works best for what kind of stuttering. It's not which therapy is better than another kind, it's knowing the difference in each stutterer's iceberg and what therapy is appropriate for what kind of iceberg. ..... Ha, ha, ha! Fear of public speaking is THE MOST COMMON FEAR in the world! (The SECOND most common fear is DEATH! As Jerry Seinfeld says, "Then it stands to reason that if you're going to give a eulogy at a funeral in front of an audience, you're in worse shape than the guy in the box!" Ha, ha, ha! I've always loved that quote!) But Toastmasters recognizes that oh-so-common fear and there absolutely IS help available. People who stutter don't have a corner on that fear market! Almost everyone I know was scared to death in Toastmasters at first. But if you survive your first few speeches (and the fatality rate is actually pretty low <grin>), you begin to realize WHAT to do and HOW to do it. And the fear really does begin to melt away. I've seen that magic happen in hundreds - maybe thousands - of cases. Public speaking is a learned art, just like baseball and playing the piano. It really does become easy - and most of all FUN! Try it, you'll like it! See http://www.toastmasters.org ..... If you've survived cancer (now THAT is a REAL challenge!), public speaking will be a walk in the park for you! ..... Marni, I'd be honored to keep in touch with you as time goes by. My email address is russhicks@mail.com. PLEASE, email me and let me know how you're doing and if you have further questions or concerns. I think we could be very good for each other and the people who look up to us as role models. ..... I wish you the very best in school and your career as an SLP. I always tell the students I speak to, "Thank you for dedicating YOUR career and YOUR life to MY cause. You are my heroes!" ..... Russ, email russhicks@mail.com