Amy Robin                                                           10/22/09

                             Speechless

          Have you ever had so much to say but couldn’t speak at all because you were scared of how it would come out? That’s what I’ve felt everyday. As a person who stutters, I realize how important communication and speech really are. Stuttering has been a major part of my life but has helped me grow also.

          I first realized I stuttered when I was 10 years old.  I was a pretty quiet 5^th grader and my music teacher wanted me to make an announcement at the weekly assembly. I didn’t really have much of a choice so I said “yes”. As I was walking up to the front of the auditorium, my stomach had a huge boulder sized knot in it and I knew something was about to go wrong. As I started to say the announcements, I stumbled on the word “the” at least 15 times. After I finally got out the sentence, I ran to my seat and cried because I was so embarrassed. I hate having everyone stare at me and make fun of me for something I can’t control. That moment has definitely scarred me a lot; it hurt me emotionally and mentally. Over the years, my stuttering got worse, and that was when my life changed completely.

          Stuttering varies for each person, I, for example, have a moderate stutter. For others though, it’s even worse. At one time in my life, I stuttered so badly that I was scared to talk. I feared raising my hand in class, greeting new people, even talking to my parents. I looked forward to sleeping because that was the only time I wouldn’t be nervous about having to speak. Stuttering lowers your self esteem, self confidence, and ruins your communication skills. There is no way to completely get rid of stuttering, but if you love yourself and accept you as who you are as a person who stutters, then your communication skills grow and you become comfortable with difficult speaking situations.

          When I finally got over the fact that I was different because I stuttered, I actually stuttered less. It still makes me nervous when I come across a difficult speaking situation but I’ve learned to calm down. Now I’m much more outgoing and actually introduce myself to people and always talk to new people. I also take speech therapy, it helps a lot. When I do stutter, most people don’t notice and I’ve learned that it’s just like another freckle on my face, it’s nothing to really be ashamed of.

          I believe stuttering has really helped me find the true me, and has allowed me to open up more to people and accept me for who I am. Stuttering is definitely a huge step in my life and I’m glad I climbed over it and that I grew so much from it.

 Amy is a 12th grader at Martin VanBuren High School in Queens, NY.  She plans to pursue a career in fashion.  I first began treating Amy in September of 2009 for Stuttering.  She is an amazing young lady.  Her communication skills have vastly improved and so has her fluency. She is a true example of how motivation, realistic outcomes and determination can lead to success in stuttering therapy.  I asked Amy if she wanted me to remove her name for anonimity purposes.  Amy stated that she wanted people who stutter to realize that improved fluency is possible alomg with self acceptance  of who they are.

Tags: acceptance of stuttering, All Island speech therapy

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 9:30 am and is filed under STUTTERING. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.