Orange County National Stuttering Association September 22, 2016 Meeting Update

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 4^th 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.

NSA Orange County August 25 Meeting Update

Yes, it’s been 3 weeks since this meeting, but I’ve been up to my neck in alligators with stuff to do. I finally have a little time to write this update, as I’m now only up to my waist in gerbils. Still, this will be a short update.

Four people were present, including 2 new members – welcome, Luis & Paul! Luis wants to attend UCLA to become an SLP, but needs to take some preliminary courses at Cal State Fullerton. Good luck to him. Paul is a voice major at Cal State Fullerton & sings professionally at his church. He says he doesn’t stutter when singing. Imagine that!

For most of the meeting, a member described an intensive stuttering clinic he recently completed at the Northwest Center for Fluency Disorders  (NWCFD) at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho. The NWCFD program is different in that it uses SLPs & Counseling to treat the whole person, not just focusing on fluency. It uses what it calls Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), a mindfulness-based mental health approach that includes meditation. It tries to attain realistic goals for the client. Here’s a link. http://www.northwestfluency.org. The member was very pleased with his experience there.

The rest of the meeting was an open-ended conversation on various aspects of stuttering. See, I told
you it would be a short update.

Next meeting is on September 22.

NSA Orange County August 25 Meeting Update

Yes, it’s been 3 weeks since this meeting, but I’ve been up to my neck in alligators with stuff to do. I finally have a little time to write this update, as I’m now only up to my waist in gerbils. Still, this will be a short update.

Four people were present, including 2 new members – welcome, Luis & Paul! Luis wants to attend UCLA to become an SLP, but needs to take some preliminary courses at Cal State Fullerton. Good luck to him. Paul is a voice major at Cal State Fullerton & sings professionally at his church. He says he doesn’t stutter when singing. Imagine that!

For most of the meeting, a member described an intensive stuttering clinic he recently completed at the Northwest Center for Fluency Disorders  (NWCFD) at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho. The NWCFD program is different in that it uses SLPs & Counseling to treat the whole person, not just focusing on fluency. It uses what it calls Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), a mindfulness-based mental health approach that includes meditation. It tries to attain realistic goals for the client. Here’s a link. http://www.northwestfluency.org. The member was very pleased with his experience there.

The rest of the meeting was an open-ended conversation on various aspects of stuttering. See, I told
you it would be a short update.

Next meeting is on September 22.

Meeting Updates Out of Chronological Order

Hello All,

I realize that the meeting updates are out of chronological order. That's because several updates were not put on the blog when they should have been. If I can figure out a way to get them in order I will.

Tommy G.

Meeting Update - 3/24/16

Although there were only 3 present, we had an enjoyable meeting with interesting discussions. We started with introductions & the question: “What place anywhere in the world that you haven’t been would you like to visit?”  One person, who has traveled a lot, would like to go to Bali, as it is becoming  a world renowned tech center & he’s a “techie.” Another has always wanted to visit Spain. The 3^rd would eventually like to visit Italy, as his parents were immigrants from there, & he’s curious about the land of his ancestry. 

 

We then went to the night's discussion topic : “Knowing what you now know about stuttering in general & about your stuttering & how it’s affected your life, if you could live your life over again, what would you do differently concerning your stuttering? “  One member believes he started stuttering in elementary school when he was made to write with his right hand when he was naturally left handed. This was interesting as at a previous meeting this topic came up, & a speech therapy student said this theory has been proven untrue. Still, our member feels very strongly that it caused him to start stuttering & if he could do it over, he wouldn’t allow himself to be forced to write right handed.

Another member said he started stuttering when, as a child, he began mimicking the stutter of a baby sitter he had. This is another controversial theory about stuttering, & I don’t know if any research has been done on it.  Our member said he would not mimic his stuttering baby sitter if he could do it over again!

The third member said he wouldn’t hide his stuttering as much as he did when he was younger, as this really dominated his life.

 

We talked about the fear that people who stutter have about public speaking. On this topic, one member brought up a “TED Talk” about Megan Washington, the Australian singer/songwriter who stutters. Here’s the link: https://www.ted.com/talks/megan_washington_why_i_live_in_mortal_dread_of_public_speaking?language=en

 

We talked a little about the poor attendance at meetings lately.  One member suggested contacting local speech therapists to refer their clients to our meetings. 

 

By now, you’ve been notified that Tammy Flores, Executive Director of the NSA, will be visiting us on April 7^th, when there will be a get-together at BJ's Restaurant and Brewery at the Block of Orange. The address is 460 The City Drive, Orange, CA.  Dr. Gerald Maguire, well known local speech therapist & university professor, will also be there. More details to follow. If you haven’t RSVPd yet, please do so ASAP.

 

That’s it for now. Next regular meeting is on Thursday, April 14. 

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NSA Orange County Meeting Update 5/26/16

There were 5 people at the meeting including a new member – welcome Deanna! Deanna comes to us on the recommendation of her speech therapist. Deanna’s mother joined us.  Family members of people who stutter are always welcome at our meetings.

We started with introductions & the question: “If you could be any animal, what animal would you be?” (Our introductory questions are always icebreakers, designed to get everyone to participate at the beginning of a meeting. There is a method to my madness.) Two people wanted to be some kind of bird, perhaps an eagle, as it would be cool to be able to fly above everything and easily go where you want. One said he also might want to be a wolf:  he has a Belgian Shepherd he is fond of that resembles a wolf.  Another person would like to be a leopard: pound for pound, the leopard is the world’s strongest land animal. That way, he said, “Nobody would mess with me.”  (Go to https://youtu.be/toJ7Kuus7e8).

The fourth person chose a dog as she has a pet dog she likes a lot.

Next we did Table Topics, which we haven’t done in a while. Topics included:

·      Your favorite vacation

·      As a person who stutters, how do you handle public speaking?

·      What is something you do that is a waste of time, but you do it anyway?

·      If you could travel in time, would you go forward or backward?

This last was one of the most interesting in a long time.

Then we discussed some mysterious aspects of stuttering. We’re all familiar with some of these: we don’t stutter when we sing, talk in unison with others, or talk to babies or pets. However, there are others. For example, one member said that sometimes it’s as if he “forgets” he stutters. He can sometimes be talking (even on the phone), say for five or ten minutes, and afterward realize that he didn’t stutter, or he may have stuttered but wasn’t aware of it. This second possibility, stuttering but not being aware of it, is the way all stutterers were when they were children before they became aware of their stuttering.  The point was made that not being aware of your stuttering is really the same as not stuttering, as far as the person who stutters is concerned.

Another mysterious aspect of stuttering mentioned is that most stutterers stutter more (or less) with certain types of people: peers, authority figures, & work colleagues to name a few. Two people said that they stutter more when they are pulled over by a policeman.  Also, the subject matter or topics in a speaking situation affect the amount of stuttering. One person noted he stutters more when talking about something he cares about or is important to him.  If we are being judged in some way (not on our speech) also affects the degree of stuttering, for example giving an oral presentation at work or school.

All of this seems to point to that, even though it has been pretty well established that the cause of stuttering is neurological, psychological factors also play a big role. The psychological factors seem to trigger the neurological base.

That’s all for now. The next meeting is Thursday, June 9. (How can it be June already?) Same time & place. See you all there.

NSA Meeting Update - April 14, 2016

We had a great meeting discussion with 5 people present.  We started the meeting off with introductions but changed it up this time.  We had people ask questions about another and introduce them to the group along with their interest, travel likes and other related points of fact.

I would like to think that this exercise is useful since one has to ask and listen and second be able to have good eye contact and introduce that person to a room.  It's probably not a person who stutters does that often.

Tonight's topic discussion was Acceptance.   What does it me to say that a person accepts stuttering?  This is a complex question and perhaps is better understood with age.  With age it gives us confidence and wisdom.  It also brings with it a large laundry bag of failed situations that shape who we are.  However, it's father time that perhaps can allow us to come to deal with it and being able to deal with stuttering allows us a better chance to be OK that we stutter.   Perhaps, shifting the paradigm from a problem to a characteristic can make it easier.  We can tolerate it more so that it doesn't run our lives, we can like ourselves more and we accept that speech is fluid with life's stages.  The more pressure we put on ourselves to being fluent will create more struggle and that equals more trouble.  Finding a happy medium can reduce stress and pressure to preform and increase fluency.  The last stage once one finally accepts their stuttering, is understanding how to dictate the terms of stuttering and how to apply those in public.  

Last note, be positive, manage what you can control and don't beat yourself up.  

Thanks,

Matt

Next meeting is April 28, 2016 with Tom Granata