There were 6 people at this meeting, including a new member - welcome Frederic Douglas! (Yep, that's him, & I must say he's aged well.) One member got a new job that he's very excited & pleased about - way to go, Robert!
We opened the meeting with introductions and the question: "What is one of your pet peeves?" Answers included: people at restaurants putting their chewing gum on their plate & leaving it there; large, loud groups of bikers roaring by you very close on the highway; taking up 2 parking spots with one car; not respecting other people's property (such as letting your car door hit the car next to you in a parking space); & people who don't return phone calls. We agreed that all of these people should be placed in permanent orbit around the planet Uranus.
Next, we played the ever popular & always exciting "I went to the beach!" game. For those unfamiliar with it (although I don't see how that's possible), the game goes like this: someone starts off by saying: I went to the beach & I saw....something that starts with the letter A - for example an aardvark. (This actually was used, & not everyone knew what an aardvark is - where have these people been all their lives?) The next person repeats that & adds something beginning with the letter B, and so on. Besides being fun and exercising your memory, for people who stutter the game brings up other interesting points. For example, one member said when concentrating very hard on a mental task that includes talking, one of two things sometimes happens: he either "forgets" he stutters & then doesn't stutter, or he does stutter but is not aware of it. This can also happen when talking about something that he's excited about. Not being aware of your stuttering is, of course, the way all stutterers were at some point when they were children. The point in your childhood when you become aware of your stuttering is very crucial. I believe Woody Starkweather at Temple University in Philadelphia has shown that if you start speech therapy with a child who stutters, but is not yet aware of his stuttering, the success rate is very high. Here's a link on a paper Starkweather wrote on preventing stuttering in young children: https://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/Parents/starkweather.html One member said when he thinks too much about what he is about to say, he usually stutters more. However, when he's caught "off guard" and has to respond, he usually stutters less. We talked a little more on the general idea of thinking too much about our stuttering when we're talking.
Our group is working on having Nan Ratner give a presentation on current research on stuttering on April 17. Dr. Ratner is an ASHA Fellow and Professor of Hearing and Speech Sciences at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has been actively involved in research and service within the stuttering community. Fearless leader Matt is working very hard on securing a space at the big Kaiser Permanente site at Sand Canyon, Irvine, for her talk.
Don't forget the "Friends Who Stutter Workshop" at Chapman University on 4/25/15. I previously sent you all emails with detailed information on this event. For more information, please contact Loryn McGill: lorynmcgill@gmail.com 949-302-5681.
That's all for now. Next meeting is Thursday, April 9. Be there, & don't feed the aardvarks.
