More News | Stuttering Foundation: A Nonprofit Organization Helping Those Who Stutter

May 22, 2019
An Update from Author Vince Vawter
The Asheville (NC) Community Theatre hosted a "table reading" on two days in March of PAPERBOY, A NEW MUSICAL, based on Vince Vawter’s novel of a boy growing up with a stutter in 1950s Memphis.
May 22, 2019
Same Mission, New Website
With nearly one hundred million visitors each year and inquiries from more than 137 countries around the world, the Stuttering Foundation’s website has become the leading global resource for people who stutter, therapists, teachers, and parents.
May 14, 2019
Summer Magazine
Our new Summer 2019 Magazine is filled with exciting articles, including a look at our new website, letters and drawings from school children, research into children's expressive language growth, and much more. You can view it as an e-magazine or download a PDF.
May 13, 2019
Peggy Lipton Remembered
On Saturday, May 11, 2019, the stuttering community lost one of its most visible celebrities with the death of actress Peggy Lipton at age 72.
April 26, 2019
Resources for College Students and Young Adults
Life after high school is an exciting but nerve-wracking time. It’s a point in your life where you may feel unsettled or anxious about what’s to come.
April 1, 2019
Overcoming My Stutter
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word overcome as, “to get the better of; to succeed in dealing with a problem or difficulty.”
February 24, 2019
Mother and Son Collaborate on Book
Kimberly Garvin and Saadiq Wicks release the book When Oliver Speaks, an inspiring story about a young boy who struggles to overcome his stutter while finding the courage to accept it.
January 11, 2019
Q & A with Animesh Sarma
Animesh Sarma had his first big break in his music career as a singer on the reality show, Dil hai Hindustani, in India. Now he’s continuing his passion for music by working at the music studio of Pritam Chakraborty.
January 4, 2019
Foundation Mourns the Loss of Kids' Letter Editor
Joan Melinda Warner, age 62, died on New Year's Eve 2018. Joan has worked at the Stuttering Foundation since 2004.
November 8, 2018
Embracing the Challenge
As a former NFL Player, Michael Attardi is proof that a stutter doesn’t have to hold you back.

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

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.

Lewis Carroll

The recent Disney version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland, garnered a great deal of media hype. Even though the mainstream media has not made mention that Carroll was a person who stuttered, his family history gives credence to the discovery of the genetic link to stuttering. Carroll was born to parents who were first cousins; almost all of their eleven children, three girls and seven boys, struggled with stuttering past childhood.

Alan Rabinowitz

Alan Rabinowitz, Ph.D., is 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.

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.

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.