American Institute for Stuttering

Feb 7th 2011

Stuttering Stan Takes a Stand: Now online!

By AIS, 10:55 pm

I recently connected with the author of the children’s book Stuttering Stan Takes a Stand. He was a friend of Catherine’s, and she wrote a little blurb for the book. We have a hard copy of it here at AIS that we share with our kids.

He let me know that the book is now animated and spoken online at this website.

Check it out with a child you know who stutters!

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Feb 1st 2011

The 34th Street challenge!

By AIS, 3:22 pm

The January intensive therapy program is now in the books. In the next few weeks, we’ll share various posts and videos from the program. Here, several participants decided to accept a challenge from Carl. The group was on their way to Macy’s, where they would practice integrating several mental and physical strategies with various employees. The group paused for a moment after exiting the subway before heading into Macy’s. Carl was half-joking, but asked if anyone would try the 34th Street challenge. Since several of them had just done the subway challenge, they were amped up and ready for anything! Here’s a video of what transpired.

Haven’t heard of the subway challenge? Check out our blog video of the May 2009 program on their trip to Macy’s.

As a side note, we do not require any of our therapy participants to participate in things like the 34th Street challenge or the subway challenge.

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Jan 30th 2011

Chamonix Olsen Sikora and Dr. Barry Guitar on the Leonard Lopate Show

By AIS, 3:20 pm

On Friday, AIS Executive Director Chamonix Olsen Sikora joined Dr. Barry Guitar from the University of Vermont on the Leonard Lopate Show to discuss stuttering and the recent release of “The King’s Speech.” The movie, Starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue, has created an enormous amount of media attention.

For those of you who regularly listen to NPR, you may have been lucky enough to hear this live on Friday afternoon. In case you missed it, here it is.

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Jan 25th 2011

Clarence Page on ‘The King’s Speech’: A stutter unfit for a king

By AIS, 10:51 am

The King’s Speech continues to carry royal momentum into this year’s Academy Awards, receiving 12 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and nods for its three leads, Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter.

We’re happy to share an article that Clarence Page, award-winning journalist and AIS Board member, wrote about the film at the end of last month. This touching piece includes experiences from Clarence’s childhood and quotes from AIS client Adam Marlowe.

Adam shared about both the film and his experience at AIS, saying, “In reality what really helped me was what you saw in the movie, a long-term therapy, working on your voice and your breathing but also on how you view yourself as a stutterer in the world.”

Read Clarence‘s article on the Chicago Tribune website.

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Dec 22nd 2010

Happy Holidays!!

By AIS, 3:56 pm

Happy Holidays and wishing a fabulous 2011 to everyone! Go out there and enjoy the movie The King’s Speech during the holidays. I’ve heard from many clients who have been able to use the movie as a way of advertising about their own stuttering and have used it as an opportunity to educate others about stuttering. Keep your eye out, the media has a new interest in stuttering now because of this movie and coverage on stuttering is beginning to abound! Check out a few examples below. The first one includes AIS client Darius Davis and his mother on the Pix11 news and the second is an article featured in USA Today with AIS client Derek Wood. The third one came out on Monday and is a great show on NPR where the grandson of Lionel Logue, the speech therapist in The King’s Speech, is interviewed. Wishing everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday with loved ones.