The week before last was National Stuttering Awareness Week. My daughter stutter. She is an amazing young woman on many levels.
Every year she puts stuttering statuses up on her Facebook page informing people of facts about stuttering during the awareness week. Last year after we attended the National Stuttering Association conference she made a video. I shared it in a post entitled My Daughter is My Hero. She is an inspiration to me.
I wanted to share her statuses last week but I actually forgot! I am sharing them now.
For some reason stuttering makes some folks uncomfortable. They don’t know how to interact with a person who stutters. These facts about stuttering will help if you know someone who stutters or if you just come across someone during your daily activities.
Posted on May 12: Today starts National Stuttering Awareness week and in honor of this event I’m going to post random fun facts about stuttering, that you may or may not know. If anyone ever has questions about stuttering, feel free to ask. Not just during this week but anytime, I will happy to answer them to the best of my ability.
May 13: Even though your first instinct when talking to a person who stutters, may be to finish their sentence, don’t. Most people who stutter prefer to talk for themselves, no matter how long it may take. The best thing the listener can do is to be patient and wait for them to finish their sentence!
May 14: Just wanted to be clear I’m not posting these statuses to make anyone feel guilty for ways they may have reacted in the past. Just trying to educate so maybe you will know a more appropriate way to react in the future!
May 15: A person who stutters is not stupid or slow. They know what they want to say, they are just having trouble getting the words out.
May 16: No one knows exactly what causes stuttering, however, recent research shows there is a genetic factor in stuttering. As an aside, my dad stutters so we came to this conclusion years ago.
And she ended National Stuttering Awareness week on May 17 with: Even though stuttering can be passed down by the genetic factor, I can guarantee you stuttering is not contagious. You can not catch stuttering by hanging around someone who does, or even by making fun of someone who stutters.
We have met a lot of awesome people because they stutter. It’s true! We sought out a support group for Brittany and actually found one after she became an adult. If it wasn’t for the fact that my daughter stutters we never would have met these people. Every cloud has a silver lining and if we look hard enough, and be open to the possibility, we will find it.
So many people shared some really great stuff on their pages that I wanted to share here but I didn’t get their permission.
If you want more information about stuttering or to find a support group near you, please visit National Stuttering Association for more information.
Our neighbor stutters…it’s gotten to the point though that I really don’t notice anymore. He’s a wonderful guy, very smart and handy, and he’s a teacher. His kids are great role models. I’m glad you’re bringing awareness to this!
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There are some people who hide their stutter so well you don’t even notice. In fact, we met a man at the conference last year who finally told his wife of 17 years. She had no idea! Sounds weird but some people who stutter avoid certain words and sounds because of the difficulty they have saying them. We know a man who teaches too, and when he is teaching he doesn’t stutter. He says it takes so much self control to NOT stutter that he simply uses that technique while teaching and allows himself to stutter freely the rest of the time.