Success Stories

'Draw Your Stuttering'

During treatment, we ask our clients to "draw their stuttering" both at the beginning and end of the process. These drawings provide a powerful way for clients to express how stuttering affects their lives. Here are the before-and-after drawings done by Bakary and Atif who attended our intensive program.

before1 before1 before1 before1

Testimonials

Over the years we have received hundreds of cards and letters letting us know that we are helping people move toward their goal of freedom in life. We'd like to share some with you.

Zhanna"The intensive speech therapy program at AIS has been a life-changing experience for me. Words just cannot adequately reflect the feelings of liberation, pride and hope.

You gave me the gift of second breath. It is as powerful as restoring sight to a blind person. I feel that I have been given wings. Controlling my speech gives me confidence to feel that I can overcome all challenges in life. I am not overstating that. However, I gained so much more than skills.

My attitude about stuttering has changed. For the first time in my life, I feel liberated from the walls stuttering has placed around me. I am proud to be a person who stutters. Stuttering neither defines nor shapes my life and my self-image. This is all thanks to AIS' treatment team's hard work. It is a gift that I will cherish forever."

Zhanna Livshits, M.D.
Isa"Isa's speech has been really, really good. I don't hear her stuttering at all. Not for months. We had a meeting with Isa's teacher a few days ago and she told us that she has never heard Isa stuttering, ever. This year Isa appears to be participating alot more in class, speaking to the group and her confidence is growing.

We are thrilled with the way things are progressing and we must give you credit for this. You are so much fun in therapy, so kind and encouraging, really creating a safe environment where Isa can forget herself and focus on the tasks at hand. Your approach is so skillful and unbelievably effective. If you ever wonder about the importance of your work, know this, you have changed the course of one little girls life. We are forever in your debt. Chamonix, you have worked wonders."

Clora, mother of Isa, age 6
Joel"Overall, my life has completely changed. I do things now that I would have never dreamed possible. It is astounding how much more comfortable I have become in public speaking situations...

I may even be starting to like it. A few people have commented that I seem like a different person, and in many ways, I think that I am. These have been some of the most influential and important times in my life."

Joel Korte

Watch videos of Joel on StutterTalk three months after his intensive program at AIS.

IMPORTANT: The "Subway Challenge" that Joel describes is an OPTIONAL part of the AIS program. It is simply offered as an idea for anyone who wants to take on the challenge. Not everyone chooses to do so and that's OK!

"The AIS intensive program is not strictly a 'stuttering treatment' protocol. It is a life altering experience, focusing much on human nature and the human aspect of life itself. While part of the focus is on fluency training, much time is spent analyzing expectations, attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions. It is remarkable that this training teaches the clinicians just as much as it teaches the clients. It is a program that fosters personal development, emotional growth, and maturity. I have gained so much, on both a professional and personal level."

Ruda Gliksman, graduate intern
Brooklyn, NY
kamela"I just wanted to let you know how much my life has changed and how much of an impact you and AIS has had on my everyday life and my moment to moment choices.

I’m stronger than before and enjoying every minute of life.

You helped me to find the person locked inside and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Kamela Mohabeer, now pursuing a career in Speech Pathology
Simon"It takes time to recognize important, defining moments in one's life. As I look back over the last 10 years or more, I realize that encountering Catherine Montgomery and the American Institute for Stuttering was one such moment.

I went through the three week intensive program at the end of a dark period in my life, the sort of period every stutterer experiences. My disfluency seemed destined to thwart my life forever, robbing me of joy and denying fulfillment. I seemed at the mercy of this alien, malevolent and completely inexplicable power. Even more remarkably, it now seems remembering that period, I knew no other stutterer.

That period began to end and a new one commenced when I first walked through the doors of the American Institute for Stuttering on West 20th St in NYC. I immediately knew I had come to the right place. I was understood; and though I can recall vividly the hard work of the intensive program that followed I also remember just as vividly the sense of exhilaration.

I no longer feel at the mercy of my stutter. I depend for my living on the use of my voice. I am frequently around other people who stutter, and no longer feel shame. Though there have been setbacks and reverses, this is a process that incontrovertibly began at the American Institute for Stuttering. The techniques and philosophy I learned are with me still. The debt is unpayable."

Simon Boughey, Actor
Will"I have spent the last couple months making 400-550 cold calls per week, and I am about to start a new sales job.

I think its really ironic that I get paid everyday to do the very thing I had the most trouble doing for most of my life - talking. And to think, I am even good at it : )

Thanks for all the help, AIS has been one of the most valuable things in my life."

Will Powers
Gianni"Stuttering is a disability which can manifest itself in many ways, physically, emotionally, cognitively, even unconsciously. It is also a disability which does well to mold itself to the individual that holds this trait; hiding itself at times, seeming inescapable at others, and all the while remaining inconsistent and mysterious as it does what it does best, confound all that come into contact with it. It is no wonder most people who stutter carry with them some sense of imprisonment, and helplessness in their battle to come to terms with, understand, and take control of their speaking lives.

But you do not have to remain in the dark indefinitely; there are people and places that can help. The American Institute for Stuttering is one such place. Here you will find a treatment program that is both holistic and pragmatic, that addresses the different dimensions that stuttering operates within, that holds the individual's goals and needs above all, and that teaches tools, strategies, and methodologies that can help you take control of your speech in the real world, not just while sitting in a room at home alone. You will leave the program with a deep sense of understanding in what causes stuttering, a superior education in how you can take control of it, and perhaps most importantly, a newly found sense of freedom and the will to tackle challenges and pursue opportunities that you never thought possible."

Gianni Jacklone, IT Director
Watch Gianni's Mac commercial

top

Program Calendar

Intensive programs are first-come, first-serve. The summer ones fill up quickly.

2010 PROGRAM DATES

  • January 4-22
  • May 10-28
  • July 5-23
  • July 26-30 Refresher
  • Aug 9-27
  • Oct 4-22
  • Nov 29-Dec 17

Contact Us

American Institute for Stuttering
27 West 20th St. Suite 1203
New York, NY 10011

phone: (212) 633-6400
fax: (212) 220-3922

Follow AIS

facebookVisit our Facebook page to become a fan of AIS and find other people who support us.

twitterFollow our Twitter account for instant updates on what is happening here.

© 1998-2010 The American Institute for Stuttering
27 West 20th Street Suite 1203 New York, NY 10011
1-877-3STUTTER  www.stutteringtreatment.org