Maverick
06-02-2004, 09:47 AM
Group's meetings provide support, social framework
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
The parents drove 60 miles to show their teenage son that he wasn't alone.
When they arrived at Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights, the Ashtabula County boy found himself in a meeting room with adults who stuttered just the way he did.
The boy was the only one in his school system who stuttered, and he had no way of identifying himself with the 3 million other Americans who stammer, said Cleveland speech pathologist Marilee Fini, who heads one of three Northeast Ohio chapters of the National Stuttering Association.
Fini, 35, said she can remember growing up stuttering and wondering about her future.
"I didn't have any role models," she said. "I didn't know I could stutter and do what I do."
Eight to 10 people attend the meetings she leads at Hillcrest at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of each month. Regulars include a physician and a psychologist.
Retired surgeon Ted Marsh said a similar number attend monthly meetings from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on the last Monday of each month at Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights. Another chapter, which meets at the University of Akron, has recessed until September.
Marsh, 72, who also stutters, said socialization is a big part of his meetings, but they also provide a place where one can lean on others for help. He said one man asked whether he could use the meeting to practice a business presentation. This was a friendly audience, not one that would groan if he lingered too long on a word or a syllable.
Marsh said the meetings usually draw a handful of regu lars. Some people attend meetings as long as they need the fellowship and the information that the groups provide and then stop.
Andrea Brewer, clinical director for the Audiology and Speech Center at the University of Akron, said several university students mingle each year with people who stutter and attend monthly meetings at the university-sponsored chapter of the Na tional Stuttering Association.
Brewer said nobody knows for sure what causes stuttering, although some recent research using magnetic resonance imaging suggests it may be caused by a physiological problem in the brain. And, she said, there is no way to "cure" stuttering just a "smorgasbord" of techniques to help people who stutter improve their fluency.
- Terry Oblander
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/medina/1086087350199900.xml
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
The parents drove 60 miles to show their teenage son that he wasn't alone.
When they arrived at Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights, the Ashtabula County boy found himself in a meeting room with adults who stuttered just the way he did.
The boy was the only one in his school system who stuttered, and he had no way of identifying himself with the 3 million other Americans who stammer, said Cleveland speech pathologist Marilee Fini, who heads one of three Northeast Ohio chapters of the National Stuttering Association.
Fini, 35, said she can remember growing up stuttering and wondering about her future.
"I didn't have any role models," she said. "I didn't know I could stutter and do what I do."
Eight to 10 people attend the meetings she leads at Hillcrest at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of each month. Regulars include a physician and a psychologist.
Retired surgeon Ted Marsh said a similar number attend monthly meetings from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on the last Monday of each month at Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights. Another chapter, which meets at the University of Akron, has recessed until September.
Marsh, 72, who also stutters, said socialization is a big part of his meetings, but they also provide a place where one can lean on others for help. He said one man asked whether he could use the meeting to practice a business presentation. This was a friendly audience, not one that would groan if he lingered too long on a word or a syllable.
Marsh said the meetings usually draw a handful of regu lars. Some people attend meetings as long as they need the fellowship and the information that the groups provide and then stop.
Andrea Brewer, clinical director for the Audiology and Speech Center at the University of Akron, said several university students mingle each year with people who stutter and attend monthly meetings at the university-sponsored chapter of the Na tional Stuttering Association.
Brewer said nobody knows for sure what causes stuttering, although some recent research using magnetic resonance imaging suggests it may be caused by a physiological problem in the brain. And, she said, there is no way to "cure" stuttering just a "smorgasbord" of techniques to help people who stutter improve their fluency.
- Terry Oblander
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/medina/1086087350199900.xml