October 22nd is International Stuttering Awareness Day.
The Stuttering Foundation says there is a wide range of causes for stuttering, and most of it is treatable through speech therapy.
Foundation president Jane Fraser says there are many famous people who are stutterers, including the actor famous for the phrase “This is CNN”.
“James Earl Jones of course is the one that always just blows everybody away. But he actually in conversational speech, he still is a person who stutters,” Fraser states.
So were Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, as are actors Emily Blunt and Bruce Willis. Marilyn Monroe’s breathy way of speaking was how she dealt with it.
Fraser says if your child begins to stutter there is helpful information on the foundation website.
She advises that you speak openly about the child’s difficulty speaking, and acknowledge it.
“Don’t ask them to repeat it. Don’t ask them to get it right,” she says. “Simply talk openly about it, that sometimes talking is hard. It’s like learning to ride a bicycle or learning to walk and run. If you’re two years old, sometimes it’s hard to learn how to talk.”