Many famous people have stuttered- Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, and even George Washington. Although I am quite a chatterbox, I too have a bit of a stutter. It started in about 4th grade. I pretty much learned to live with it- that is until I had a nearly silencing flare-up 14 years ago. I was going through an especially stressful time in 1994 and was prescribed a mild tranquilizer by my family doctor. Besides the strain of the circumstances, I found I had developed a horrible stutter- and could not pronounce words that started with “S.” Picture this… my name is Neena Strichart, I worked for the Signal Newspaper and worked/lived in Signal Hill. Not being able to say my “S”s made my life miserable.
I mentioned the problem to my doctor who basically claimed it was stress related. I eventually sought help from the Speech Pathology department at CSULB. I was a graduating senior that year and was able to be treated free of charge. After several weeks of treatment with no relief, my darling husband mentioned my condition to his audiologist, Dr. Bernard Landers, a man who had treated me for a tongue thrust when I was 7 years old. Dr. Landers told Steve to get me off the tranquilizers immediately because they were probably causing my throat to spasm, therefore causing the stuttering. I dumped the drugs immediately and the stuttering disappeared just as quickly as it came. I called my doctor and filled him in- he was unimpressed, so I found a new doctor. I called the folks at the CSULB Speech Pathology department who rejoiced in my “cure.”
Why do I share this story with you? It was recently brought to my attention that International Stuttering Awareness Day is next Wednesday, October 22. I thought this would be a great time to tell our readers that there are speech-language pathologists in our area who specialize in helping people who stutter. The nonprofit Stuttering Foundation provides a free list of local resources for you- just call (800) 992-9392 or visit www.stutteringhelp.org. Click on “Referrals” for a listing of local therapists or click “Check Your Library” to see if your local public library shelves material on stuttering.
