A 9-Year-Old's Journey with Stuttering

A blog by Voon Pang
December 13, 2012

Sometimes stories are best told with pictures. Ben, a 9-year-old boy who started coming to our clinic in 2009, wanted to share his story so that others could find the inspiration and courage to continue their journey with their own stuttering. These pictures have been taken from Ben’s participation in our Confident Communicators group we ran this year where five boys and their parents participated in four group therapy sessions spread out over the year. The group focused on learning about stuttering and speech production, improving communication skills, opportunities to practice speech tools and strategies to help deal with bullying and teasing. Parent sessions focused on counselling, peer support and discussing ideas on how best to support their child. Many thanks to Ben and Christine for giving us permission to use these personal insights!

Before Group Therapy

During Group Therapy

End of Group Therapy

CELEBRITY FOCUS

James Earl Jones

Actor James Earl Jones, a Broadway, television and movie star, is well-known for his voice as Darth Vader in Star Wars and his book Voices and Silences. Jones has spoken some of the most memorable lines in the history of American film, but the man known for his voice was once afflicted with a severe stutter.

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.

Bob Love

Bob Love has dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.

King George

In November 2010, worldwide movie audiences were presented with a most interesting and unusual movie release with The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth as King George VI and Helena Bonham Carter as his wife Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, history may have forgotten the courageous and inspiring story of Prince Albert who stuttered badly and never dreamed that he would ever be king when his older brother, King Edward VIII, abruptly abdicated the throne in 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee.

Dave Taylor

Dave Taylor has been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter for many years, but probably few people know all of the unique accomplishments of this former hockey great who was born on December 4, 1955, in Levack, Ontario.