Pros/Cons
Hello everyone! I am an SLP graduate student and I am working with a school-age student who stutters. Today during our session, we discussed stuttering awareness day and I told him about this amazing community! We came up with this question to ask and I will show him the answers our next session. Thank you so much!
Imagine your life without having had a stutter, what do you think would be better? What do you think would be worse?
Hello! Thank you so much for asking this question to the professional panel! What a creative way to think of a question to ask- I love it! As an SLP who didn’t stutter for years, but now does as of four months ago (an acquired stutter due to a head injury) I am honored and glad to answer your question.
Your question was: Imagine your life without having had a stutter, what do you think would be better? What do you think would be worse?
-Having lived my life without a stutter and now with a stutter I can reflect some on this. My journey with stuttering is different than most, as I have only stuttered for the past four months, starting at the age of 36. I am the sibling of a person who stutters- my brother started to stutter at the age of 6 and was my motivation in becoming a speech-language pathologist. The stuttering community has taken me places and given me life experiences that I never could have imagined. For me personally, stuttering isn’t a “problem” but remember: this is my journey, not any one else’s. Stuttering is a journey that is different for everyone. Without stuttering in my life, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I am braver, stronger, and know how to think my way out of a box so to speak, because of stuttering. Stuttering now makes me unique. It is something that sets me a part from other people, and something that I can also now take to the therapy room as an SLP that I have now experienced. Not everyone has this take on stuttering, so be sure to ask every person that you see in the therapy room about their own stuttering journey- it will be different than mine. I hope that this helps to answer your question, and be a world changer! You already are changing the world, by asking this question in this international forum space.