Four were present, including a regular member of the
Riverside NSA Chapter – thanks for coming, Raoul! Raoul says he’d like to attend as many Orange
County meetings as he can. This writer also attends about two thirds of the
Riverside Chapter meetings. (Yes, it’s true; I’m an NSA junky.) We started with
introductions and the question: What’s one thing you haven’t done yet but want
to do before you, shall we say, “assume
room temperature”? One member whose
parents are immigrants from Italy would like to travel to Italy, maybe to his
parents’ home town. Also, to see other places like Rome & Florence & to
see some of the art, like the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. Another would also like
travel to Italy & other European countries to see the historic churches. Another
wants to go camping with his 2 kids in a remote area. He keeps buying camping
equipment with this intention. The fourth wants to do a vacation stay at an
“over water bungalow.” Elevated over the ocean, these hotel rooms on stilts are
most often found in the Maldives and the South Pacific, but they also crop up
in unexpected places such as Switzerland, Malaysia, and Cambodia. http://www.islands.com/best-overwater-bungalows
We went over some
upcoming events:
NSA
is starting a family chapter in Orange County, with a get-together at Chapman
University on October 8. For more info contact Loryn McGill lorynmcgill@gmail.com
or Reuben Schuff rzschuff@gmail.com Family chapters are oriented to middle
school and high school ages, 12-17 year olds.
There’s
going to be a FREE screening of the
award winning documentary film “The Way We Talk” at CA State Fullerton on
Monday, October 10 at 7:00 pm. Tickets are limited. More info: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-way-we-talk-documentary-tickets-27246550165
and here: http://www.thewaywetalk.org/
There was
supposed to be a regional NSA conference at UC Riverside in October, but I haven’t heard anything about it lately.
Matt is checking on it.
Next we played a game we
hadn’t played in a while – the ever popular “I went to the Beach”! For you uninitiated, in this game the first
speaker says “I went to the beach & I saw a [object beginning with A].” The
next speaker repeats that and adds an object beginning with B - and so on all
the way to Z. What does this silly game have to do with stuttering? Most of us
who stutter are almost always conscious, at some level, of their stuttering.
It’s always there in the back of our minds. Sometimes when we are concentrating
very hard, like you have in this game, we may not be as conscious of stuttering
& feel less anxiety about it. It can
almost be like the person who stutters “forgets”
he stutters. He may not stutter at all, or stutter but not be aware of it. I’ve
always thought if you stutter but aren’t aware of it, it’s just like not
stuttering because all of the anxiety is gone. Most people who stutter start when
they start talking, but don’t become aware of it until several years later.
This point, when the child becomes aware
of his stuttering, is the turning point and is when whatever anxiety, embarrassment,
he’ll have about his stuttering begins. Just some of the mysterious things
about stuttering.
We used the remaining limited time on the topic: If a person
who knew nothing about stuttering asked, “Why do you stutter?”, what would you
say? One member long thought he started
stuttering after being scared by a big dog when he was 5. His mother said he
didn’t talk for 2 days afterward. He now believes, however, that stuttering is
neurological. Another member long thought it was a combination of a poor
relationship with his father &, shall we say, “unpleasant” experiences in
Catholic school. He remembers becoming aware he stuttered in 4th
grade, the first year he attended Catholic school. He now also believes
stuttering is neurological. I believe this neurological basis for stuttering is
the prevailing one in the latest research.
That’s all for now. The next meeting is October 13. Same
time, same place, led by Matt.
