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Questions for Parents

QUESTIONS THAT MIGHT
BE ASKED OF PARENTS

Download?ÿa PDF of these questions.

Note: These questions are listed in order of the seriousness of the?ÿproblem. If a parent answers ƒ??yesƒ?? to any question other than number?ÿ1, it suggests the possibility of stuttering rather than normal?ÿdisfluency.

1. Does the child repeat parts of words rather than whole words or?ÿentire phrases? (For example, ƒ??a-a-a-appleƒ??)

2. Does the child repeat sounds more than once every 8 to 10 sentences?

3. Does the child have more than two repetitions? (ƒ??a-a-a-a-appleƒ???ÿinstead of ƒ??a-a-appleƒ??)

4. Does the child seem frustrated or embarrassed when he has trouble?ÿwith a word?

5. Has the child been stuttering more than six months?

6. Does the child raise the pitch of his voice, blink his eyes, look?ÿto the side, or show physical tension in his face when he stutters?

7. Does the child use extra words or sounds like ƒ??uhƒ?? or ƒ??umƒ?? or?ÿƒ??wellƒ?? to get a word started?

8. Does the child sometimes get stuck so badly that no sound at all?ÿcomes out for several seconds when heƒ??s trying to talk?

9. Does the child sometimes use extra body movements, like tapping?ÿhis finger, to get sounds out?

10. Does the child avoid talking or use substitute words or quit?ÿtalking in the middle of a sentence because he might stutter?

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Dave Taylor

Dave Taylor has been on the Stuttering Foundation's list of Famous People Who Stutter for many years, but probably few people know all of the unique accomplishments of this former hockey great who was born on December 4, 1955, in Levack, Ontario.

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.

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.

Ken Venturi

As much of the nation watches the U.S. Open Golf Championship, it is impossible not to think about our late friend Ken Venturi. Ken overcame many challenges to win the Open at Congressional in 1964 and go on to become the voice of golf for more than three decades.

However, Ken faced no bigger obstacle than stuttering. Ken Venturi was a champion to those who stutter, going out of his way to share his personal experience when consulted by a colleague, friend, or child who stutters.

Kenyon Martin

Kenyon Martin, the basketball sensation who was named to the NBA’s All Star Team in 2004, joins other famous people who stutter in a new brochure. The brochure - which unfolds into a small poster - is available free of charge from The Stuttering Foundation.

The poster is intended to give children and adults who stutter inspiration as they grapple with their speech disorder.

Famous People Who Stutter