"Children
Who Stutter and Their Families" WorkshopsAuthor
- Gail Wilson Lew, M.A. C.C.C.
"Children Who
Stutter and Their Parents" workshops take place three times a year
at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California. The workshops are sponsored
by the National Stuttering Project (NSP), a non-profit organization dedicated
to educating the public about stuttering in cooperation with Pasadena
City College's Disabled Student Program. The workshops are
an opportunity to meet a real need for the children who stutter and their
parents. This is a chance for them to get to together and give each other
support and added understanding. For the children, the workshops give
an opportunity for them to talk to other children who stutter, make friends,
and to not be afraid that someone was going to make fun of them for stuttering.
Parents are able to share their experiences and encourage one another.
The parents also feel relieved that they are not the only ones struggling
with guilt, a sense of failure, apprehension, and doubts about whether
they were doing the right things. Many times a child
who stutters is the only one in his grade or school that has this problem,
and he or she feels isolated. By having these children come together they
feel relieved that they are not alone. They also can feel accepted for
who they are and not for how they say things. Each workshop averages
about 15 families. The workshops are also open to speech-language pathologists
so that they could learn more about stuttering and be informed about the
special needs of parents who have a child who stutters. Participating speech-language
pathologists are able to provide insight, understanding, and encouragement
to the parents. The speech-language
pathologists that attend, find the workshop to be helpful and very informative.
There is literature available about stuttering published by the National
Stuttering Project and The Stuttering Foundation of America (formerly
called Speech Foundation of America). Speech-language pathologist
Vivian Sheehan from the UCLA Stuttering Clinic, meets with the parents
and gives an informative talk on stuttering as well as answer any of their
questions. One of the highlights
of the workshops are the adult stutterers who act as volunteers. They
are from the Los Angeles chapter of The National Stuttering Project. For
the first time the children and parents got to meet adults who stutter.
The volunteers play games with the children, and later the parents got
to ask them questions about their own childhood experiences as stutterers..
Some parents worry about their child's future. By having the volunteers
there, the parents come to realize that a person can stutter and still
succeed in life.
MEET YOUR PAL Gail Wilson Lew received
her Bachelor of Science Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Hardin-Simmons
University and her Master of Arts Degree in Speech-Language Pathology
from the University of Tennessee. She holds the Certificate of Clinical
Competency in Speech Pathology from the American Speech/Language and Hearing
Association, a License in Speech-Language Pathology from the State of
California, and the Speech-Language Clinical Rehabilitative Credential.
Gail has a private practice in Sierra Madre, CA specializing in stuttering.
She also works part time for a school district and is the Director of
the Adult Stuttering Clinic at California State University, Los Angeles.
For the last 7 years, she and Dr. Vivian Sheehan have held several workshops
for children who stutter and their families. She has had the opportunity
to gain experience also with Dr. Charles Van Riper,Phd. (Pioneer and authority
in Stuttering) and Dr. Carl Dell, Phd. author of "Treating the School
Age Stutterer" from the Stuttering Foundation of America. She was
on the Board of Directors of the National Stuttering Project for three
years and director of the Los Angeles support chapter for the last seven
years. Gail has a keen insight into stuttering since she herself was once
a severe stutterer. | 
