Hide | Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter

Materials Fly Off Shelf in Windy City

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association had record attendance at its November convention in Chicago, and the Stuttering Foundation was there to spread the word about stuttering to the nearly 15,000 attendees.

ANNA OLSWANGER

Anna Olswanger is a literary agent, children's book author, book promoter, miniature book publisher, music licenser, and trainer. Her book Greenhorn is a powerful story that gives human dimension to the Holocaust.

Greenhorn

In Anna Olswanger's Greenhorn, a young Holocaust survivor arrives at a New York yeshiva in 1946 where he will study and live. His only possession is a small box that he never lets out of his sight.

Valuable Lessons Played Out in Empowering Short Story “Speechless”

Ninth-grade student Elena, who stutters, took an English assignment opportunity and used her creative talents to present a short story about a group of classmates learning to face their fears, stand up for themselves and others, and discovering that being different is really the same for everyone.

Stuttering Foundation President Receives Honorary Fellowship from Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists

For Immediate Release
Contact: Greg Wilson
greg@curleycompany.com
571-239-7474

Photo caption: Stuttering Foundation President Jane Fraser with RCSLT President Sir George Cox. Download photo.

Tarver Family, Shelby Railroad Give Major Gift to Memphis’ Stuttering Foundation

For Immediate Release
Contact: Greg Wilson
greg@curleycompany.com
571-239-7474

Photo caption: Kirk Tarver, vice president of Shelby Railroad, presents a donation to Donna White of the Stuttering Foundation on Sept. 18 at Wedgewood Golf Club. Download picture

Golfers Drive Support for Stuttering

Finding the Perfect Fit

Nick Weaver is a proud army brat born in Germany and raised primarily in the Mississippi Delta. He’s the COO of a custom made jean company called Blue Delta Jeans, an entrepreneur, an app developer, and a baseball fan. Nick Weaver is also one of 70 million people worldwide who stutter.

Speak the Speech

My stuttering is often in total remission for long periods of time. Then without warning, the tendency to stutter returns, to stay for a while. During times of speech blocks, to keep myself “fluid,” to ease speech, I relied on poems and other lyrics to keep me speaking—not with contemporary free-verse poetry but with “old fashioned” verse of rhyme and rhythm.

Frank Dimitri Has the World on a String

Within the stuttering community, the ability of persons who stutter to sing fluently is quite well documented. Famous singers Ed Sheeran, Mel Tillis, Carly Simon, Bill Withers, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Scatman John, Jason Gray, Kendrick Lamar and Ann Wilson all struggled with fluency despite having award-winning singing voices.

Pages

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

Mel Tillis

Mel Tillis, born Lonnie Melvin Tillis, was an influential figure in country music, both as a songwriter and a performer. His journey to fame was marked by overcoming personal challenges, including a stutter that he turned into a defining part of his public persona.

Carly Simon

Carly Simon began stuttering severely when she was eight years old.

Alan Rabinowitz

Alan Rabinowitz, Ph.D., who passed away in 2018, was an explorer, wildlife conservationist, and author. He established the Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve in northern Myanmar, which is about the size of the state of Vermont.

His love for animals began when he was very young.

Byron Pitts

Byron Pitts has brought much attention to stuttering with his memoir, Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges, released in September, 2009. The book not only details his speech difficulties, but also his illiteracy until age 12 and his unstable family life. Pitts overcame the odds to become the chief national correspondent with ABC News.