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

November 14, 2019
Stuttering to Speak
I can remember stomping my feet and rolling my eyes hoping the words would come out quicker. These were outward expressions of how frustrated I was because of the challenges I experienced with my speech.
November 11, 2019
NIH study in mice identifies type of brain cell involved in stuttering
Discovery could lead to targets for new therapies
November 4, 2019
Stuttering Foundation Launches Podcast
We're continuing our efforts to bring you relevant and accessible learning opportunities - and we can't tell you how excited we are to be entering the podcasting world!
September 27, 2019
10 Ways to Celebrate International Stuttering Awareness Day
October 22 is International Stuttering Awareness Day. This is a great opportunity to focus public attention on a complex disorder that touches 70 million people around the world and more than 3 million in the U.S. alone.
July 2, 2019
Netherlands Workshop Focuses on Preschool Children
A workshop designed for speech-language pathologists who want to be trained to practice the DCM treatment that was investigated in the RESTART trial will be held in the Netherlands from July 31- August 2, 2019.
June 18, 2019
Remembering Gloria Vanderbilt
Ms. Vanderbilt was a model, actress, fashion designer, artist, heiress, and socialite. People who were around in the 1970s and 1980s will remember how she jump started a $100 million-dollar fashion empire, mostly with designer jeans, but also blouses, shoes, jewelry and perfume.
June 5, 2019
Boy Rocks It in Musical
Ever since he was 6 years old, Eamonn Hubert has been performing. While he’s been in countless shows with his dad, thanks to their band Hot Dogs & Gin, this year he performed on one of his biggest stage yet — School of Rock the Musical. While Eamonn was on a U.S. tour with the group, we caught up with him to learn more!
June 3, 2019
Bravery on the Front Lines
Born in October of 1911, Gertrude Tompkins came from a wealthy and privileged background. Her father, Vreeland Tompkins, was a top chemist for John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil with many patents of his own, securing the wealth of the Tompkins family for many years. Vreeland stuttered severely, and naturally was upset that his daughter began to stutter like he did.
May 23, 2019
Waverly the Therapy Dog Remembered
Waverly, a therapy dog who worked with those who stutter in Alaska, passed away recently. She would have been six years old in June.
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.

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

Jack Paar

While Jack Paar is among the most prominent of the entertainers on the Stuttering Foundation’s list of Famous People Who Stutter, he deserves special recognition as he was among the first to openly address his stuttering in public. As host of The Tonight Show from 1957-1962, he spoke of his difficulties as a stuttering child and teenager, giving hope to young people.

Bill Withers

While Bill Withers has long been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter, many people probably didn’t realize he stuttered. He passed away on March 30, 2020.

Born in 1938 in Slab Fork, W.V., Withers was the youngest of six children. When his father died when Withers was small, he was raised by his mother and grandmother, both of whom worked as domestics.

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.

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.

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.