January « 2010 « American Institute for Stuttering

Jan 29th 2010

Stuttering surveys: Susan quizzes people in the airport about stuttering

By Eric Corpus, 10:03 am

stuttering-airport

photo: Hyougushi

Susan just finished the January 2010 intensive program last week. She sent us this great story about her trip back to Indiana:

I thought you’d like to hear something funny I did yesterday in the airport. I had a long delay in Newark and then a 3-hour layover in Chicago, so I pulled out my stuttering surveys! I surveyed a whole bunch of people, and it was actually way more fun than just sitting there. I got some nice compliments on my speech, too.

Part of the reason I did this was because I wanted to prove to myself that my speech tools worked outside of NY, and they did! They worked in New Jersey and then in Chicago. It was a good way to build up a number of positive experiences for myself. On the Challenge Scale, this ranked even higher than the Subway Challenge because I had to actually approach people directly in a place where people aren’t particularly thrilled to be, and introducing myself to other people is one of the hardest things for me. (more…)

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Jan 27th 2010

Carl talks about an inspiring activity from our therapy group for stuttering children

By Eric Corpus, 10:16 am

Jan 25th 2010

Draw your stuttering: Artwork from the January intensive program group

By Eric Corpus, 1:19 pm

At the beginning of an intensive stuttering therapy program, we have each client draw their stuttering; basically a representation of it or how it makes them feel. Then at the end of the three-week program, we have them draw their stuttering again. It’s like a before and after insight into how our clients view their stuttering.

Here are the drawings from the January intensive program group.

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Jan 20th 2010

James Earl Jones: From stuttering to mute to stage and screen

By Eric Corpus, 9:30 am

Stage and screen actor James Earl Jones is widely known as the voice of film icons Darth Vader (Star Wars) and Mufasa (The Lion King). However, for 10 years in his childhood, that now-legendary voice was not heard by anyone at all.

From the ages of 5 to 14, Jones refused to speak due to his severe stutter. A high school English teacher encouraged him to finally take up speaking again. And of course, it was his voice and speech that carried him to the illustrious career that he enjoys today.

Here is a recent CNN interview with James Earl Jones where he addresses his childhood stuttering and looks back on his career (he talks about his childhood stuttering at 2:47 in the embedded video below).

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