I live in Bolivia, South America, I am the mom of a 5-year-old boy that stutters. After one year of terrible anguish watching how my son's speech deteriorate without knowing what was going on and without being able to find real help, I traveled to the US in order to get some training. Once back home, the memory of all these feelings of helplessness and the sense that nobody understood what I was going through made me feel that I had to do something to help other parents find their way in helping their children.

My journey began 3 years ago when my son, Santiago, all of a sudden started stuttering. He was 2 back then, had had very early language development and by this time was exhibiting advanced language skills for his age. We looked for advice immediately . All we found were professionals that were as confused as we were. Most of them agreed that it was an emotional disorder and that he needed psychological help. Some said that the cause of his stuttering was that his motor skills and speech lagged behind his linguistic abilities and that he would outgrow it.

One year went by with my son's stuttering getting more severe and me watching with increasing pain and frustration. The fact that my husband also stutters helped me to realize there was much more to it than what I was hearing. The only way to help my son was to investigate on my own.

Through the Internet I reached many websites such as the SFA, NSA, THE STUTTERING HOME PAGE and many others. At last I knew that my little boy was facing what could be a life long disorder and that he needed the help of a specialist in childhood stuttering. I immediately traveled with my two children to Salt Lake City, Utah, where my son got intensive therapy for 3 months and I got training in order to continue with treatment back home. He responded very well to therapy. In a short period of time his speech improved a lot but there was so much still to do. Suddenly I was not only his mom but also his therapist, something that put a lot of pressure on me.

Once back to our normal life I had the mission to educate people that surrounded him on stuttering in order to insure progress. At the same time I felt the strong need to find other parents of children with a stuttering disorder that did not have the means to travel abroad and were going through the same emotional pain. Every time I had a chance I would talk to people about stuttering and how much it can affect children's lives hoping to find parents in the same situation.

Early this year I had given a presentation on stuttering at my children's school for the whole school staff. Not even one of the teachers had the slightest idea about stuttering or what they could do to help children with this disorder. It was a wonderful experience. All of them were very pleased to get this information so new to them and some came up to tell me they had cases in their classes. Right away I got in touch with those parents and gave them copies of resource material in Spanish from the SFA and shared with them things that had helped me deal with this situation, especially the importance of talking openly about this issue. I thought at this point I had found people with whom I shared a common bond and that we could find in each other a listening ear and support. Nevertheless I was deeply surprised and frustrated to find out they were paralyzed by the advice of the professionals working with their children -- basically telling them that only mentioning the word stuttering would make the problem worse. The parents were reluctant to talk again about this issue with me.

I felt completely isolated, with so many fears regarding my son's future, feeling the obligation to fix his stuttering and blaming my self his lack of progress. I thought over and over on how lucky the people were whose stories I had read in the NSA Letting Go magazine who said their lives had changed once they were part of a support group. I started considering attending the 2003 NSA Convention in search of additional training, hoping I would be touched in the same way.

My experience there was more than what I can express with words: I finally found a place where my feelings were understood and where I found answers to my fears. I heard so many stories that made me understand that as important as good therapy is for a child it is equally important for parents to be educated about stuttering and to talk openly about this issue, parents that love and accept you unconditionally and help you find within yourself the best of you.

I felt I had found a place where I could turn out for help and I wanted this for other parents. I came home with so much strength that at once had a meeting with my children's school board of directors, looking for help. They were very supportive and were willing to assist me in anyway they could. They not only offered the school facilities for the support group meetings but they also helped me by posting the advertisements, calling other schools and planning the first meeting. I talked personally with many parents. My feelings before the first meeting were fluctuating between excitement and fear because I could still sense that the ill advice people were getting about stuttering were strongly in the way.

The support group's first meeting was much more than what I had expected. For starters around 15 parents attended and after a while many of us were sharing openly our feelings. For the rest who were reluctant and afraid to express them, I am sure they at least found comfort from coming together. This is only the beginning and there are still many challenges to face, but just knowing I can make a difference in a child's life will keep me going.