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There is a place where adults who stutter can find support and interact with other adults who stutter.
Stuttering is defined as:Hesitation with repetition or spasmodic stumbling while speaking.
TRADITIONAL SPEECH THERAPY FOR STUTTERING Typically, clinical treatment for stuttering involves visiting a speech-language pathologist for a series of therapy sessions. Initially, the visits are once or twice a week, and between visits the person who stutters does various activities, exercises, and practice routines that will ultimately provide relief from stuttering. These sessions can go on for a year or more. Speech therapy does not cure stuttering. The goal of speech therapy is obtaining relief from stuttering. While many people do obtain relief from stuttering through traditional speech therapy, many find the activities, exercises, and practice routines do not provide the relief the are seeking. Furthermore, for many, speech therapy can be overwhelming. It's a "human thing," somewhat like dieting or exercising. People know that they should do it, and they really want the result, but actually dieting, or exercising is really difficult because it not the dieting or exercising they want -- it's loss of weight and/or a healthier cardiovascular system they really want. The dieting and exercising is, in their mind, just something that gets in the way in the meantime. So, many people simply won't comply with diet and exercise routines. Likewise, a person in traditional therapy for stuttering often finds therapy to be a very tedious and undesirable process. If you have received traditional speech therapy for stuttering, and feel you are not getting relief from stuttering, consider trying a "user-friendly" stuttering relief approach call the Fluency Master. What research is being done about stuttering? Stuttering research is exploring ways to improve the diagnosis and treatment of stuttering as well as to identify its causes. Emphasis is being placed on improving the ability to determine which children will outgrow their stuttering and which children will stutter the rest of their lives. Stuttering characteristics are being examined to help identify groups of individuals who have similar types of stuttering and therefore may have a common cause. Research is also being conducted that will help locate the possible genes for the types of stuttering that tend to run in families. Modern medical tools such as PET (positron emission tomography) scans and functional MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans are offering insight into the brain organization of individuals who stutter. The effectiveness of different types of treatment are also being examined, and new treatments are being developed.
PERSONS WHO STUTTER SUFFER EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF THEIR DISABILITY. Scientific studies have shown that 85 percent of employers agreed that stuttering decreases a person's employability and opportunities for promotion. Hurst, M.I. & Cooper, E.B., Employer attitudes toward stuttering, Journal of Fluency Disorders, 8, 1-12 (1983). Vocational rehabilitation counselors who were surveyed reported that stuttering was indeed vocationally handicapping. Hurst, M.I. & Cooper, E.B., Vocational rehabilitation counselors' attitudes toward stuttering, Journal of Fluency Disorders, 8, 13-27 (1983). Surveys of people who stutter have reported high rates of unemployment, discrimination in attaining employment, and denial of promotions because of stuttering. Opp, K.L., Hayden, P.A., & Cottrell, G.T., Stuttering and employment: A survey report, Annual Convention of the American Speech, Language, and Hearing Association, Boston, MA (1997). The studies cited above are only a tiny sampling of the extensive scientific research demonstrating the serious effect that stuttering has on major life activities and employment. The millions of Americans who are afflicted with stuttering need and deserve the protection of anti-discrimination statutes such as the ADA. They are entitled to their day in court and to a full hearing on the merits.
THE CASE OF THE DISFLUENT WEATHERMAN "There was a recent case of discrimination based on stuttering that I was able to play a small role in. A weather forecaster for the National Weather Service, based in Washington, D.C., was denied promotion to a higher position, where he would have had to make rapid decisions about forecasts, on the grounds that he was "indecisive." He sued the government, claiming discrimination against him based on his speech. The supervisor, who made the judgment, had no other evidence that he was indecisive, except his speech, and of course hesitancy in speech does not in any way imply hesitancy in decision making. "I was asked to supply expert testimony and did so by reviewing the scientific literature showing a cleat tendency for listeners to make false judgments about stutterers, and employers in particular. A telling piece of evidence for this case came from a study in which it was shown that the personality characteristics that nonstutterers attribute to people who stutter are based on the feeling that the nonstutterers fell when they are hesitant, or stumble, in their speech Q nervousness and uncertainty primarily. We were able to argue that, in the case of the weatherman seeking promotion, the supervisor had made just such an error concluding from his speech pattern that he was uncertain because she (the supervisor) stumbled in her speech when she felt uncertain. Upon presentation of this testimony, the case was settled and the man promoted." (Woody Starkweather, Ph.D.) Stuttering Resources Stuttering foundation of America -- The Stuttering Foundation provides free online resources, services and support to those who stutter and their families, as well as support for research into the causes of stuttering. We are the largest - and the first - nonprofit charitable organization in the world working towards the prevention and improved treatment of stuttering, reaching over a million people annually. We also offer extensive educational programs on stuttering for professionals. Through our award-winning Web site, we hope that we may be of service to you
 
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