Jaan Pill
Current Acting National Coordinator of the Canadian Stuttering Association, Jaan Pill, was interviewed by Marilyn Linton from the Toronto Sun. He is quoted in an article published on Monday, February 21 entitled Stuttering, a hidden disability.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2010 issue of CSA Voices. You can read more about Karen and purchase her book here.
For almost as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to write feel-good books for young children who stutter.
I’m now 44 years of age, and the memories of being teased at school as a child are still quite vivid. Because of what I experienced, I’ve always wanted to help young children who stutter. I thought that writing encouraging children’s books would be a good way to accomplish this.
David Shield’s novel, Dead Languages, is an intensely personal narrative about the life of Jeremy Zorn, growing up in San Francisco in the 60s and 70s, who happens to have a severe stutter. The book opens with memories of formative experiences from his early childhood, mainly the strong personalities of his highly intellectual and verbose family, particularly his mother.
Elaine Saitta
Elaine Saitta, from Seattle, Washington, has been involved in organizations for people who stutter for many years, particularly the National Stuttering Organization. She attended the CSA conference in Vancouver in 1997, and later this year will be one of our keynote speakers at CSA 2011. In her work as a speech-language pathologist she treats clients of all ages, including young adults. In this moving interview by Pamela Mertz, Elaine speaks about how "coming out" as a person who stutters, and meeting other people who stutter, changed her life. Listen here.
Slate Magazine has an excellent article on the history of stuttering in movies. It features some older, little-known films as well as the popular ones of today. Hollywood definitely does a disservice to stutterers, with few exceptions. It is usually portrayed as a sign of weakness or ineptitude. One sad but funny example is a Western where John Wayne's character is able to bully the stuttering out of a young fellow – "Get rid of that stutter or go home, pardner!" The boy becomes angry and his stuttering is cured.
This article highlights four well-rehearsed presentations at a Teachers and Students Who Stutter workshop at the CSA national conference in August 2007. The workshop took place in Toronto on August 17, 2007.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2010 Newsletter.
Sadia Khan, the first speaker, teaches elementary school near Toronto. As a child, she felt frustrated and alone when people told her to slow down, without understanding her experiences as a speaker. She dreaded using the phone, saying her name, or reading a passage verbatim in class. She often felt rushed to answer teachers’ questions.