By: Christina McGairk
Living with a
Stutter My First-Hand Account
I was painfully shy until the age of 12. It was due largely to my speech impediment. I had an open overbite as a child that made it difficult to sound out words that required tip to tongue movement, mainly “T” words. For example, words like “then” and “that” were hard for me. I pronounced “there” as “dare.” Then there was my stutter. Some thought it was caused by me talking too fast. I would often hear “slow down” or “Maybe you wouldn’t stutter if you weren’t talking so fast.” But that wasn’t the issue. I knew what I wanted to say, but I just couldn’t get it out in a coherent way. It was as if there was a glitch in my system between my brain and my mouth. My parents thought I would grow out of it eventually, but by 5th grade, it only got worse. That’s when my teacher suggested that I take advantage of the speech therapy services they had at school. I’m so glad she did because it helped me a lot. Stuttering is a communication disorder characterized by repetitive sounds, words, and prolongation of sounds, which interrupt the flow and fluency of speech. There are two types of stuttering – developmental and neurogenic. Although there’s not a single cause for stuttering, researchers have found there are a variety of factors that contribute to it:
26 Special Needs Living • October 2021
genetics, neurological language development components, and motoric ability. Stuttering or speech disorders were rarely talked about back when I was in school. I didn’t know anyone in my class or inner circle who stuttered. The only other person I knew who stuttered was my uncle (by marriage). I felt isolated at that time in my life, like there was something wrong with me or I was just odd. But, come to find out, I was not alone. According to the Stuttering Foundation, it’s estimated that 5% of children stutter. Also, more than 70 million people worldwide and 30 million people in the United States stutter. In fact, many famous people have battled with stuttering, including Marilyn Monroe, James Earl Jones, and even our current president, Joe Biden. Although there is no cure for stuttering, speech therapy is recommended to help those who stutter. Dana Stewart, owner of Stuttering and Speech Therapy Services LLC in Indianapolis, started her practice in 2017. She serves preschool and school-aged kids, as
