Stuttering
07-02-2004, 09:07 AM
'Unbelievable' programme helps woman stop stuttering
30 June 2004
By BARBARA WITHINGTON
When Mavis Mackenzie shifted back to Alexandra two years ago, she was surprised people remembered her from 13 years ago.
However, those same people were more surprised when they heard Mrs Mackenzie speak – the stutter that had always been part of her life had gone.
Mrs Mackenzie is left-handed and, as a child, suffered as teachers tried desperately to get her to change.
"They even tied my hand behind my back. It was traumatic for a small child to try and go to the toilet with one hand." A small stutter grew to a bigger one as her confidence ebbed. Working with a speech therapist was fine but as soon as she was back in class it would be there again.
"One day I tried to say the word pencil and it would not come out so I was told that if I could not speak normally, not to speak at all."
That was a turning point in Mrs Mackenzie's life.
"I determined right then at 10 years old that they accepted me as I was or tough beans to them." Stutterers lived in fear all the time.
They never knew how the words would come out, if they would come out at all, she said.
"Sometimes it is good, sometimes chaos."
Undaunted by her impediment, Mrs Mackenzie held a wide variety of jobs over the years, from driving trucks to making wedding gowns, setting up the workers' bus from Cromwell to Queenstown and driving taxis in Christchurch.
In about 2000 Mrs Mackenzie heard about the McGuire Programme, which uses special breathing techniques to help stutterers. However, she was not certain at first it would work for her and allow her to speak clearly for the first time in her life.
However, contact with programme graduate Peter Kidd, of Ashburton, convinced her $2000 was a small price to pay for the chance.
One of two women and 11 men on a course in Wellington during 2001, Mrs Mackenzie, like the other participants, had to begin by introducing herself and reading a piece from a magazine.
"All our lives that had been the hardest thing to do, to say our name.
After just 24 hours on the programme we were all fluent in doing just that.
"It was just unbelievable. The tears were streaming down my face when I realised this was the answer. The stress, embarrassment, humiliation that had been jammed down inside this rubbish tin for so many years, and then the lid had come off. I knew this was going to work for me."
Mrs Mackenzie rang her husband the next morning, "and he did not know it was me; he did not recognise my voice, it had changed so much" .
At the end of the course, the participants had to give a speech at the Cuba Mall, the culmination of a weekend that changed their lives.
Lapses were possible but each person had been given the skills to work with to make it happen again.
"King George 6, Winston Churchill, Paul Holmes, these people were all stutterers and it did not stop them. It hasn't stopped me but now I just feel so much better."
With 19 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, Mrs Mackenzie is only sorry she had to wait 66 of her 69 years to find the answer to her problem.
The McGuire Programme is run by recovered stutterers. The next course is due to be held in Christchurch from August 4.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2957728a7144,00.html
30 June 2004
By BARBARA WITHINGTON
When Mavis Mackenzie shifted back to Alexandra two years ago, she was surprised people remembered her from 13 years ago.
However, those same people were more surprised when they heard Mrs Mackenzie speak – the stutter that had always been part of her life had gone.
Mrs Mackenzie is left-handed and, as a child, suffered as teachers tried desperately to get her to change.
"They even tied my hand behind my back. It was traumatic for a small child to try and go to the toilet with one hand." A small stutter grew to a bigger one as her confidence ebbed. Working with a speech therapist was fine but as soon as she was back in class it would be there again.
"One day I tried to say the word pencil and it would not come out so I was told that if I could not speak normally, not to speak at all."
That was a turning point in Mrs Mackenzie's life.
"I determined right then at 10 years old that they accepted me as I was or tough beans to them." Stutterers lived in fear all the time.
They never knew how the words would come out, if they would come out at all, she said.
"Sometimes it is good, sometimes chaos."
Undaunted by her impediment, Mrs Mackenzie held a wide variety of jobs over the years, from driving trucks to making wedding gowns, setting up the workers' bus from Cromwell to Queenstown and driving taxis in Christchurch.
In about 2000 Mrs Mackenzie heard about the McGuire Programme, which uses special breathing techniques to help stutterers. However, she was not certain at first it would work for her and allow her to speak clearly for the first time in her life.
However, contact with programme graduate Peter Kidd, of Ashburton, convinced her $2000 was a small price to pay for the chance.
One of two women and 11 men on a course in Wellington during 2001, Mrs Mackenzie, like the other participants, had to begin by introducing herself and reading a piece from a magazine.
"All our lives that had been the hardest thing to do, to say our name.
After just 24 hours on the programme we were all fluent in doing just that.
"It was just unbelievable. The tears were streaming down my face when I realised this was the answer. The stress, embarrassment, humiliation that had been jammed down inside this rubbish tin for so many years, and then the lid had come off. I knew this was going to work for me."
Mrs Mackenzie rang her husband the next morning, "and he did not know it was me; he did not recognise my voice, it had changed so much" .
At the end of the course, the participants had to give a speech at the Cuba Mall, the culmination of a weekend that changed their lives.
Lapses were possible but each person had been given the skills to work with to make it happen again.
"King George 6, Winston Churchill, Paul Holmes, these people were all stutterers and it did not stop them. It hasn't stopped me but now I just feel so much better."
With 19 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren, Mrs Mackenzie is only sorry she had to wait 66 of her 69 years to find the answer to her problem.
The McGuire Programme is run by recovered stutterers. The next course is due to be held in Christchurch from August 4.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2957728a7144,00.html