January Meeting

7 were in attendance: Charley, Aisha, Lee, Maryann, Stan, Chang, and SarahMarie.  This included 5 PWS, 1 SLP and 2 graduate students.  After Stan read the Welcoming Words, everyone introduced the person to their right.   Good News followed… SarahMarie passed the Praxis Exam and Maryann may be asked to lead a march for her graduate program (you GO girls!).  Lee will be going to Atlanta to work with the Special Olympics!  Charley was excited that his son Noah is already a whiz on his brand new bike.  Stan has been reading “Self-Therapy for the Stutterer” by Malcolm Fraser.  He is working to adhere to the first 2 Ground Rules: 1) Speak slowly and deliberately, and 2) Stutter easily.  He has had some success with these, and will continue to work at it.

Because Amit was unable to join us, Charley was tasked with sharing HIS good news; Amit is ENGAGED!  He returned from a trip home to India just before New Year’s, where he met his fiance, Rinsi (spelling – help me, Amit!).  Everyone was very excited to hear this news, especially since they had not met before Amit went home.  We can hardly wait to congratulate him in person, and to meet his fiance!  A wedding is planned for early Summer, though Amit promises that he will not miss the NSA/Parsippany gig…

This news lead to a lengthy discussion of dating, and blind dates in particular.  3 in attendance had been on blind dates, none of which amounted to much!

Chang, who was at his second meeting, told us about his personal experience with stuttering.  Before coming to this group, he had never met anyone else who stutters.  Chang often hides his stuttering from classmates, by either not speaking or changing words.  Chang works with a year-long service project, which occasionally requires him to speak to groups of school kids.  Everyone applauded Chang’s decision to participate in this project, and recognized his courage in speaking to groups.

Next, Charley called everyone’s attention to the rare convergence of 3 phenomena next month: Charley’s final class meeting (Stuttering), the chapter’s monthly meeting, and Valentine’s Day.  After much discussion, it was decided that the chapter meeting would be held at the class on stuttering.  Some chapter members have in the past spoken to Charley’s class, and this seemed like a great opportunity to unite the 2 groups.  Students learn so much from people who stutter, and speaking to students is a great chance for PWS to reaffirm, empower and educate.  

Charley read the closing words, and the meeting was adjourned around 8:45.

Thanks for listening,

Charley

November Meeting

We had 15 turn out last night: Charley, Jack, Amit, Jeremy, AL, Chang, Shanna, Andy, Aisha, Rachel, SarahMarie, Abbey, Maryann and Nathan. This includes 5 first-timers, 9 PWS, 2 SLPs, 4 SLP graduate students, and 1 friend for support. Amit opened the meeting with the welcoming words, followed by introductions of the person to your left.

Good news included 2 work-related announcements: Nathan received a performance bonus, and Amit was awarded Employee of the Year! They were warmly congratulated by all present. AL opted to remind a stranger about a posted ‘no cell phone’ policy recently, a decision he would not typically make. Abbey survived 3 tests this week, and there were 2 dog-related instances of good news (Rachel and Charley). After some procrastination, Shanna finally set up her My Space web page, and was quickly in touch with a friend from high school, whom she will meet later this week. This led to a discussion of My Space, which some mentioned was addictive.

The headliner item on the agenda was to watch and discuss portions of ‘True Life: I stutter’. It was very interesting getting to peek into the lives of these 3 PWS…

Tim, a grad student in speech-language pathology, is trying to find a job before he gets evicted. AL commented that Tim has a very unusual stuttering pattern, as he stutters all the way through some words.

Jessica, competing for the Miss Michigan pageant, rehearses what she will say when on stage. MaryAnn, who competed in a high school pageant herself, pointed out that while rehearsing your own name may help, it’s still a case of ‘russian roulette’… in the end, you will either block on your name, or you won’t. No amount of practice can guarantee that there will be no ‘bullets in the gun’.

Caryn, the covert PWS in the video, went from saying “How will doing something I’m so afraid of help me stutter less?”, to “The less I try to hide my stutter, the better I feel about it.” Caryn advertises her stuttering out loud to a subway car full of strangers (and a few supporters), which we all agreed would be very difficult. This lead to a lengthy discussion of fear. We decided that while fear of stuttering will never disappear completely, the important thing is to speak in spite of that fear, rather than to avoid because of it.

AL read the closing words, taking the opportunity to practice his speech controls, and the meeting was concluded around 8:45. As usual, it was around 30 minutes later that the last vehicle rolled out of the parking lot…

Thanks for listening,

Charley

ISAD 2007

INTERNATIONAL STUTTERING AWARENESS DAYOctober 22nd What do Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Lewis Carroll, Aristotle and Moses have in common?  They all stuttered.  Stuttering is a disorder of fluency characterized by various behaviors that interfere with the forward flow of speech (Bob Quesal), which affects 1% of all people worldwide. In spite of the visible struggle sometimes observed with this speech disorder, there is no physical pain associated with stuttering; the emotional and psychological pain, however, can be profound.  We are all too quick to form judgements and beliefs about people based on how they speak, rather than on what they say; and, the fear and avoidance which ensue for those who stutter can be life-altering.  It doesn’t have to be this way.  Take a minute to pass this on to others, to promote awareness and understanding about stuttering.  Here are a few basic facts: 3 million Americans stutterStuttering has both genetic and neurophysiological components4 out of every 5 people who stutter are maleSpeech therapy can help For more information, go to: National Stuttering Association www.nsastutter.org Stuttering Foundation of America www.stuttersfa.org Stuttering Home Page www.stutteringhomepage.com  

Some more contemporary people who stutter:

 Actors James Earl Jones and Bruce WillisSinger Carly SimonSenator Joe Biden Former NBA star Bill Walton General Electric CEO Jack Welch  If you are fortunate enough to know someone who stutters, remind them that they are in good company.

October 2007 Meeting

16 in attendance: Charley, John, Lisa, Jeffrey, Amit, Joel, Ruth, Al, Lindsay, Mary Frances, Tracey, Tracy, Aisha, SarahMarie, and Maryann. This includes 7 PWS, 2 SLPs, 1 parent, 7 graduate students, and 4 first-timers! Jeffrey, a first-timer, jumped right into the fray and did a terrific job reading our welcoming words. This was followed by having everyone introduce the person to their left.

Good news was next; Tracey insisted that being newly unemployed was VERY good news, Ruth was glad to have passed the Praxis exam for speech pathology, Mary Frances was glad that we were nearly to the weekend, Lindsay told everyone that she was getting MARRIED on Saturday (EXCELLENT news indeed!), and somebody stole Charley’s good news that fall weather had finally arrived.

This was the first time we had set up a computer and projector for one of our meetings, which was done to share the outstanding ISAD Online conference with everyone. Charley quickly explained how it worked, clicked through a couple of articles and comments, and then moved to the ‘self-help around the world’ section. After listening to Bulgarian stuttering, we decided that we should stick to English testimonials, so we watched Mel Hoffman (USA), M. Prem Kumar (India), and Joseph Lukong (Cameroon). It was encouraging to see the rise of self-help in other places, clearly demonstrating the important role it plays in recovery from stuttering.

Next, we enjoyed a demonstration of the Altered Auditory Feedback (AAF) software made available by Rick Arenas through the ISAD conference. Some folks struggled trying to speak with this unusual new auditory signal, and the rest of us enjoyed watching them try it!

We had a great discussion about factors which have an impact on fluency, whether to increase it OR decrease it. Tracey explained how she becomes totally fluent when she is upset – this is when she really “flows”! Others pointed out that they can be more fluent when they are feeling healthy, strong, or very happy about something. Of course, most reported an increase in fluency with alcohol, though Al indicated that this effect wears off and reverses as consumption continues. We may need to conduct further research into this area… Adverse impact on fluency was reported for fatigue and stress, and both John and Al report experiencing a drop in fluency over about a 3 week period in the Spring and the Fall, when the temperature begins to change.

Finally, we all agreed to honor ISAD by sharing information on stuttering with others on October 22nd, so we kicked around a few basic facts to share:

3 million Americans stutter

1% of the world population stutters

4 out of 5 PWS are male

PWS are more intelligent

PWS are more attractive

PWS are very modest

Amit wrapped things up with the closing words, and the meeting was adjourned around 8:45 (stared at 7:00).

Thanks for listening,

Charley

Summer 2007 Reports

Great apologies for the sizeable gap since my last meeting report, so I will skim over the last few…June 14th

10 in attendance: Charley, Ruth, Louise, Alice Anne, Nathan, Caroline, Maryann, Stan, Kerri and Sara. This included 5 PWS, 4 graduate students, and 2 speech-language pathologists. Much discussion of the upcoming conference in Atlanta, with many of us going!

July 12th

10 in attendance; Charley, Keyisha, Maryann, Lee, Tracy, Nathan, Stan, Amit, Tripp and SarahMarie. Among those were 7 PWS, 2 graduate students, and 1 SLP. No suprirse that we talked at lentgh about how much fun we had in Atlanta! This chapter had 6 members and 2 family members of members make it to Atlanta, which we were very proud of. It was undoubtedly a life-changing event for each of us, and we will ALL make it to NSA 08.

August 9th

10 in attendance: Charley, SarahMarie, Tracy, Amit, Maryann, Keyisha, Kevin, Caroline, Stan and Nathan. This included 7 PWS, 3 graduate students, 1 SLP, and 1 first-timer! We met Kevin at the NSA conference, and were very excited that he drove up for the meeting. Kevin hopes to help Caroline establish a chapter in Charleston, SC.

September 13th

13 in attendance: Charley, SarahMarie, Judy, Tracy, Amit, Stan, Alice Anne, Anderson, Tina, Aisha, Maryann, and Keyisha. This included 7 PWS, 3 graduate students, 3 SLPs, and 3 first-timers! Anderson is a college student who just joined us, and Tina came to support her friend Aisha, also attending her first meeting. Big props to Tina for her support!

Amit read the NSA Welcoming Words, followed by introducing the person to our left. Since we had 3 newcomers, we each told a bit more about ourselves. During the ‘Good News’ segment, Maryann shared that she had given her first presentation of graduate school, and was very excited to find that she was able to get through it with good control and use of her techniques. Judy shared a wonderful quote she just got from a 2nd-grader returning home from her first day of school; she was so excited, because she learned that “All you have to do is try – you don’t have to be perfect”. We all agreed that this was a terrific thing for a child to discover, as well as a wonderful mantra for those who stutter.

Charley asked if anyone had heard about the movie ‘Rocket Science’ – a few had followed discussions from listservs, but none of us have seen it – unfortunately, it isn’t playing anywhere in SC. This lead to a discussion of stuttering in movies, and of course Porky Pig. No one has seen Porky in syndication recently – perhaps he has left us for good!

We had a great discussion about avoidance, and how it manifests itself, and came up with the following:

1) Not speaking at all

2) Limiting career choices

3) Email abuse

4) ‘Slipping out’ of a room before having to speak

5) Changing words

6) Circumlocution (NOT the same as 5!)

7) Not using drive-thrus

8) Not raising hand in class

9) Breaking eye contact

10) Stalling

11) Not introducing self

12) Not entering social situations

13) No public speaking

14) Internet dating

15) Instant messaging

16) Online shopping

17) Not answering the phone

18) Speaking in a dialect

19) Not stuttering! (covert)

Maryann read the closing words, but it was another 20-25 minutes before everyone had finally left the building – we just had too much to talk about! Amit is going to try to schedule a ‘Chat, Chew and Brew’ soon…

Thanks for listening,

Charley

November 2006 Meeting

What a great meeting!  We had 8 in attendance: Charley, Greg, MaryAnn, Judy, Joel, Nathan, Lee and Alice Anne.  This included 5 PWS, 3 SLPs, and 1 SLP student.  It is worth noting that once again, we have folks travelling a considerable distance to be here… Alice Anne drove 13 miles from nearby Irmo, SC; Judy travelled 34 miles from Camden, SC; MaryAnn drove 81 miles from Florence, SC; Nathan drove 93 miles from Kinstree, SC; and Lee took the prize by travelling 103 miles from Greenville, SC.  This totals nearly 650 miles round trip!  WOW!Joel opened with the opening words, after which we all introduced the person to our right.  Then after a (fairly sparse!) round of Good News, we decided to make sure everyone knew everyone else.  Each had met at least a few of the others, but there were a few who had not met yet.  In the spirit of the election season, we watched a few minutes of Senator Joe Biden’s NSA keynote address from 2004.  Most did not know he was a PWS, and we were all moved by his words of encouragement.  He is a powerful communicator, and he gracefully blended sensitivity and humor to a captive audience.  Biden quoted Disraeli:“There’s no education like adversity.”Noting that politics is a curious choice for someone who stutters, a discussion of career choices followed.  Lee then got us all thinking when he posed questions about stuttering and assertiveness, and stuttering and sign language.  We wondered if signing while speaking can be fluency-inducing.  AL, one of our members (who was not present) is perfect to  ask this question, and I did just that this morning; the answer is YES.  He absolutely speaks with greater fluency while signing.The group voted to hold our Holiday Party at our scheduled day and time in December (Dec. 14, 7 pm) at Casa Linda Mexican Restaurant, as we have done at least twice before.The high point of the evening by far was when MaryAnn discovered that she was sitting next to Alice Anne, the developer of the recently-released ‘Color Me Fluent’ program (Super Duper, Inc).  MaryAnn loves the program, and had been extolling its virtues prior to Alice Anne’s arrival.  Hugs, tears and smiles ensued.  Alice Anne and Lee read the closing words in unison, a perfect ending for a terrific meeting.Thanks for reading,

Charley

October Meeting

The Columbia, SC Chapter of the NSA met Thursday, October 12th. 8 were in attendance; Judy, Sarah S, Joel, Phillip, Sarah L, Greg, Maryann and Sara S. Four of the 8 had their inaugural meeting  this month.  Amit would be proud to know one of the four was drawn to this session because of this website!   Phillip opened the meeting by reading the Welcoming Words, which was immediately followed by Good News. Judy opened a discussion about the International Fluency Association (IFA) Congress in Dublin, Ireland, which she attended. But before she could continue far the discussion devolved into a discussion of acronyms!  Acronyms discussed included IFA, ISA, NSA, SLP, SID4, PWS, CWS, ISAD, and IEP. The group invented BPWS and Greg added BS to the mix.When the discussion finally returned to the IFA Congress, the issues discussed at the congress were as follows:·         The Lidcombe Stuttering Progam developed initially in Australia·         The Speech-Easy·         The role of genetics in stuttering·         Neurogenic causes of stuttering·         Reimbursement issues for treatment of stuttering·         Concerns about SLP student educationJudy then passed around a flyer advertising the International Stuttering Association (ISA!) Conference to be held in Croatia May of 2007.The National Stuttering Association (NSA!) Conference is to be held in Atlanta next year (June 28 through July 1, 2007.)  Interest was expressed in going to this conference as a group since it is so close this year.  The logistics of the trip were briefly discussed and because of the length of time until June tabled temporarily. International Stuttering Awareness Day (ISAD!) occurs this month on the 22^nd the BLOG on the westutter.org website going on since October 1^st was discussed as well as various activities that could be done to bring increased awareness to the issues related to stuttering.Judy and Joel read the Rights and Responsibilities of People Who Stutter (PWS!)  Some items from each (Rights and Responsibilities) list  incited more discussion.Charley could not be present at this meeting due to commitments with the South Carolina Speech Language Hearing Association (SCSHA) Fall Conference in Greenville, SC.  ‘However he did send a very explicit email with 3 attachments and ALL of the regular meeting agenda items. He was greatly missed but Judy brought great snacks and a wealth of pamphlets and knowledge about all the various national and international conferences related to PWS.  He will be back next month and hopefully so will all of you!After Sara S. read the Closing Words and the Midlands Chapter of the National Stuttering Association was adjourned for this month.Respectfully submitted,Sarah S(Thanks, Judy and Sarah!)

September 2006 Meeting

Better Late Than Never…

The Columbia, SC Chapter of the NSA met Thursday, September 14th. 8 were in attendance; Charley, Nathan, Judy, Lee, Amit, Liz, Greg and Alicia. It is worth noting that one member drove down from Greenville, and another drove up from Kingstree, giving us a coverage range of 200 MILES!   Amit opened the meeting by reading the Welcoming Words, which was immediately followed by Good News. An exciting topic was our new website, http://nsacolumbiasc.wordpress.com/. Judy has returned from the IFA conference in Dublin, and promises to share more details and information next month about her experiences there.

Charley opened a discussion about the New York Times article about Pagaclone, and its success in reducing stuttering. Most agreed they would be interested in taking such a drug, however Amit declined, saying that the long-term effects are unknown and the risks did not outweigh the limited benefits. There was also no concensus on what one would be willing to pay for such a drug.

When Judy departed (and before Liz or Alicia arrived), the (temporarily all male) group decided to discuss women and dating.  This was a candid, but brief discussion, as Liz soon stopped by the Center to retrieve a piece of equipment she had neglected to pick up earlier in the day. Liz is not ordinarily part of the group, and ‘paid the price’ for her oversight, when the group asked her to stay behind and field a couple of questions! She was soon joined by Alicia (usually a group member but coming after class), who would suffer a similar fate…

The questions posed by the group to the two graduate students were:

1) Is is better if a male PWS mentions/discusses his stuttering upon meeting you, even if his stuttering is obvious?

2) Are there cues to determine if a woman is genuinely interested in you, or is just being polite?

The first question proved somewhat easier than the second, but here is a summary of responses…

Confidence in himself tends to make the best impression, regardless of fluency. Advertising/discussing stuttering is OK,  especially good if it flows from self-confidence.  As for genuine interest, this may be best measured by the duration of the conversation and to what extent she is engaged in that conversation.   **We would be most interested in input on these questions from others!!

Time got away from us very quickly, and we did not break up the meeting until well after 9:00 when Charley read the closing words.

Thanks for listening,

Charley

September Meeting

Please join us on Thursday, September 14th at 7:00 pm for our next gathering.  I’ll provide light refreshments, some loose structure, a couple of topics, and some input.  We ALL will enjoy friendship, information, and SUPPORT.  All with an interest in stuttering, personal or otherwise, are welcome.  Please join us!  If you have any questions or need directions, contact me at charley@sc.edu or 803-777-2605

Charley Adams

Columbia, SC Chapter Leader

National Stuttering Association

Columbia SC Chapter Report (August 06)

Hi folks,

The Columbia SC group met last night at the USC Speech & Hearing Center. 9 were in attendance: Charley, Greg, Amit, Erin, Al, Ron, Keyisha, Alice Anne, and Nathan. This included 3 SLPs, 1 grad student, and 7 PWS. Extra kudos to Al, who was back for the first time in over a year, and Nathan, who drove over an hour in a downpour!

Keyisha volunteered to read the Welcoming Words (before she realized how long they were); nonetheless, she did a super job. We followed with our tradition of introducing the person to our left, then jumped in with good news. Erin and Amit have upcoming vacations planned, and Charley let everyone know that Tripp’s father had successful surgery, and was home recovering in record time (Tripp is one of our long time members).

Our first discussion topic was, “Is stuttering a disability?” Charley brought it up as a hot discussion topic from the listserv, and everyone shared opinions. Al preferred the term ‘handicap’, though there was some speculation that this was perhaps because he has difficulty saying words beginning with ‘D’. (-: He also pointed out that such labels imply that the individual will never recover from the condition – a message the group generally felt could be dangerous with younger clients.

This led to a discussion of ‘recovery’ from stuttering – what would that mean? Keyisha stated that a PWS who speaks like a non-PWS is recovered. Ron used the term ‘control’ to describe a recovered PWS. Al noted that recovery isn’t ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but rather a continuum. And Amit described recovery as the ‘absence of fear’ for speaking.

Finally, we spent the balance of the evening discussing our new website: http://nsacolumbiasc.wordpress.com/

Amit has done a fantastic job setting it up, and is (slowly) teaching Charley how it works and how to manage it. We went into the student computer lab of the Center, and we were all like kids in a candy store as we examined it from several monitors. It’s good now, but will be a lot better soon. We are especially excited about the Weblog feature! I strongly encourage other chapters to set up a website if they don’t have one yet.

Finally, Amit read the closing words, and we were on our way.

Thanks for listening, and please visit our website!

Cheers,

Charley Adams
NSA Chapter Leader, Columbia, SC
http://nsacolumbiasc.wordpress.com/