Posts Tagged ‘late onset stuttering’
Episode 232 features Naomi Howard, who hails from Mt. Olive, North Carolina. Naomi works as a teacher, recently promoted to Assistant Director, with a Montessori School. She is a musician, playing the piano since 8 years old, and some other instruments.
Naomi is new to the stuttering community, as she has late onset stuttering which only developed a year ago. She shares that it may have been triggered after removal of a pituitary gland tumor.
Naomi is also a little person. I asked which was more challenging to deal with, stuttering or dwarfism. She said definitely being a little person, as that’s consistent and she knows exactly what to expect everyday. Stuttering, as we know, is extremely variable, from minute to minute, hour by hour and day to day.
Listen in to this very inspiring episode. It was a fun conversation with a new friend.
Don’t Stay Home – Episode 85
Posted on: April 23, 2012
Episode 85 features Jolene Bower who hails from Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Jolene works in purchasing for an oil and gas company, and is also in university, studying psychology. She starts graduate school next fall to study speech language pathology.
Jolene talks about why she wants to become a speech therapist, and therapy experiences she has had. We talk about fluency shaping, and how hard it can be sometimes to transfer those skills into “real life” experiences.
Jolene also shares about her experiences at a three week intensive therapy at ISTAR (Institute for Stuttering Treatment and Research) at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
We talk about what it was like for Jolene to start stuttering at the age of 15, which is considered late onset. Research indicates that most stuttering starts in childhood, between the ages of 2 and 5.
We also discuss choosing not to talk, finding our identity, apologizing and reaching the point of not caring what others think!
Jolene also shares that she just recently started a local stuttering support group in her community and how that is going.
Listen in to a great conversation between two women who stutter. Feel free to leave comments or let Jolene know what a great job she did. Feedback is a gift!
Music used in this episode is credited to ccMixter.
Episode 71 features Megan Hutson who hails from Fairmont, West Virginia. Megan is a 25 year old self described “professional student.”
She is studying American Sign Language (ASL) at Fairmont State University. Megan shares how she wants to use her stuttering as an inspiration to others who have difficulties with communication. She thinks she would be good at, and enjoy being, an interpreter for the deaf.
Megan shares an example of her teacher assigning the class to perform a song using ASL. (Here’s an example.) Megan talks about how different it was for her to sign instead of using her voice.
She recalls how when she would prepare a speech using her voice, she always prepared less material. She needed to give herself time to stutter. She realizes that this is not the case with ASL, because (as of yet) she is not stuttering while signing!
Listen in as we talk about some other unique perspectives. Megan did not start stuttering until age 17. We discuss late onset, and what it was like being fluent. Megan shares that she was actually timid as a fluent speaker and afraid to put herself out there. Now, as a person who stutters, she finds herself much more outgoing and willing to take chances!
We also chat about how she has handled negative reactions to her stuttering and Megan’s perspective that with stuttering, people have no time to prepare themselves to talk to us, like they might when a person encounters someone in a wheelchair.
This was a great conversation. Thanks Megan for being so honest and letting us get to know you. Feel free to leave comments or ask questions in the comment section.
Music used in this episode is credited to ccMixter.
Make Room For The Stuttering 
What people are saying!