Did you see Lazaro Arbos on American Idol? If you missed it, check it out! He is a person who stutters with an incredible story and an incredible voice! I dont see any reason why he wont go far in the competition and I look forward to following his progress.

Aside from the stuttering, he is a very talented singer. I was most definitely not as talented of a singer as he is. It is important for us to remember that his incredible voice is not a result of his stutter. His voice is related to… Well.. his voice. This is a prime example of us being so much more than stuttering. We stutter, yes, but just like Lazaro, we have other talents and traits. Here are my special talents.

1. Sailing
2. Waterkiing
3. People person
4. Ability to relate to everyone I meet
5. A leader

Why did the judges keep telling him to “sing all the time”. I truly hope that Lazaro will not take this literally. Singing instead of talking is most definitely not the answer. The answer is support and acceptance. I do think it is great that he will be on television for awhile, but I also think that the judges need to be careful what they say and how they react to him. Young children who stutter are listening, maybe an educated individual in the field should speak with the judges to make sure their comments and actions are appropriate. I just hope the wrong message isn’t portrayed. In my opinion, “singing all the time” is the wrong message. Accepting your stutter is the right message. Showing that you are so much more than the stuttering is the right message.

How are you much more than stuttering? What special talents or traits do you have?

During this episode I speak with David Shinefield, the creator of the theatre company “Together We Act: A One-Act Play and 3 People Who Stutter”. He talks about his ventures with this group. He is really trying to get his project off of the ground and could really use everyones support, so do him a favor and donate to this cause after you listen. Also featured on this episode is Tim Flynn who is a person who stutters and a member of the National Stuttering Association. Tim was also featured on the MTV reality show, “True Life: I Stutter.” This is part one of my interview with him. He has had some very interesting experiences as a person who stutters. He has really come a long way in his life and he is willing to share it with you all up close and personal. Listen as he explains how he rose above all of the ridicule and verbal abuse he dealt with throughout his childhood and adolescent years. He tells us all how he persevered to become a successful Speech Language Pathologist. Enjoy!

Click here to donate to Together We Act

The new year is upon us and its time to start putting some serious thought into our new years resolutions. Do you have any new years resolutions for your stuttering? My new years resolution is to continue to live my life to the fullest. I am determined to continue to not allow my stuttering to dictate how I live my life. This year I have done a pretty good job of that. I have a great job, a great position with the National Stuttering Association, a great fiance’..I really can’t ask for much more! What is your new years resolution? Does it involve stuttering? Heres a new years resolution to consider…get involved with the National Stuttering Association. What a great network of people who stutter that you can become involved in. Join an NSA chapter to receive self help and support. Join us in Arizona this year for the national conference, where you will likely meet 800+ people who stutter. This is a great first step in the process of not allowing your stuttering to control your life.

I would like everyone who reads this to list their new years resolutions! What is your new years resolution for 2013? Does it involve stuttering?

Hi Everyone,
I am so sorry I have not blogged or posted a podcast for a very long time.. I just started a brand new job at a hospital. This is my dream job. Not do I have the opportunity to see inpatients, but I also see outpatients. This means I can actually see stuttering clients, which of course is my main goal. I have been busy this past month becoming oriented with the hospital. It is a brand new experience for me and I am really enjoying it. I think I truly enjoy working with adults rather than children. Working in the school system was fun, but due to my large caseload I rarely saw any progress. I currently work at a hospital and it is great! I see all my patients individually. I see mainly patients who have had strokes and are struggling with their swallowing or cognition. I also have the opportunity to see outpatients and what is great about this is I can schedule stuttering patients! The kicker is that the hospital does not advertise their outpatient services, so I need to basically find them myself. I was thinking about starting an NSA chapter at the hospital. This way if any of the support group attendees are interested in receiving therapy, they will have that opportunity. I havent had a chance to start a support group yet though. When things calm down I will be sure to start one.

I have more big news! It is with great pleasure that I let you all know that I have been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Stuttering Association. I am currently serving as the interim Adult Programs Coordinator. I start my regular term in February. This is a dream come true for me. It is incredible to think that I am serving for a national organization that I have the upmost respect for. The NSA changed my life. It is because of the NSA that I am so open and accepting of my stuttering. If it wasn’t for the NSA I wouldn’t even be a speech pathologist. It is now my turn to give back to the NSA and I am honored to have the opportunity to work on their board of directors.

I hope to be able to start blogging again on a regular basis. I thank all of you who have continued to read and ask questions and responded. Please keep reading and listening!

Evan

During this episode I interview Pam Mertz from Stutterrockstar.com. Pam has been very involved with the stuttering community for some time now. In this interview we discuss her involvement in the stuttering community. She also discusses her podcasts, “He Stutters, She Asks Him”, and “Women Who Stutter”. She always has great insight on stuttering and has a great story to tell, all the way back to her roots as a covert person who stutters! This is a must listen for the covert stuttering crowd especially. Please leave your comments below! If you leave voice message feedback, please indicate whether you would like the message played during an upcoming podcast.

I consider myself to be a fairly confident person. I wasn’t always like this, but since becoming involved with the National Stuttering Association and talking more about my stuttering I have become increasingly confident. I take pride in my confidence and I enjoy empowering others and improving others views on themselves about their own stuttering. In my opinion, confidence in oneself is key to decreasing your negative feelings and attitudes about stuttering.

Although I feel that I am a fairly confident person, recently I have found my confidence decreasing a bit. I have just started a new job as a Speech-Language Pathologist working in home care. This is stepping way outside of my comfort zone and I think this is part of the reason why my confidence has decreased a bit. WIth a decrease in confidence comes an increase in stuttering for me and I am finding myself increasingly disfluent, especially in my new work environement. I am finding myself losing eye contact, using secondary characteristics, and using a lot of interjections.. This is not me, why am I doing this right now?

I know I will bounce back. Im not sure how I will attempt to bounce back, but I know I will. Things will get better, but why do things fall backward sometimes? Even the most confident people who stutter have a tendency to fall backwards from time to time. As you can all see, I am human too. I guess that is just the roller coaster ride that people who stutter deal with, even the confident ones. Tell me about about your roller coaster ride? When you fall backwards, how do you rebound from those experiences to move forward again?

Thank you to Mason and Ashlee for your recent voicemail feedback that you sent me. Please contact me again if you would like me to respond to it publicly in a podcast. Feel free to email me or facebook message me. If not, I would love to get in contact with you to discusss!

A good friend of mine, Pam Mertz, founder of Stutter Rockstar, shared the same experiences on her blog. Check out her blog post on making room for stuttering.

In this episode I interview Dr. Lisa LaSalle from the University of Redlands in Redlands California. She teaches the stuttering course and supervises students who are seeing clients with fluency disorders. In addition, she was my stuttering course professor at Syracuse University…how does she do both? you will just have to listen. During this episode we talk about the overall cause of stuttering and we respond to some audio feedback that I recently received. Enjoy!

In this episode I speak with Samuel Dunsiger from Stutter Social and Daniele Rossi from the Stuttering Is Cool Podcast about the Walke for Stuttering Awareness, which is happening on September 23rd in Toronto, Canada. This is the first ever walk to support stuttering and it was wonderful hearing about the planning that went into it. I also play a promo recording that I recently created. It was featured on Daniele Rossi’s podcast. It turned out great! Have a listen.

Right click to download audio file

During this episode I talk with Mike Lapot, a very talented tap dancer who was featured on, “So you Think You Can Dance Australia”. He explains how he has not allowed his stutter to control his life and is free of negative feelings and attitudes about his stuttering. He talks about what it is like to stutter on live television in front of millions of people. He has a great message for everyone, so be sure to take a listen. In addition, I introduce you all to my beautiful fiance and the woman behind “I Stutter, So What?”, Christina. Enjoy!

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Have you ever said to yourself, “Wow, I wish I came up with an idea like this.” I must say, I am impressed all of the time by people who stutter and this week is no exception. On September 23rd, Canada is holding its first annual Walk for Stuttering Awareness. I actually think this is the first walk for stuttering awareness ever!. Greg O’Grady is the chief organizer of the the event and my friends Daniele Rossi from the Stuttering is Cool Podcast, and Sam Dunsiger from Stutter Social, are assisting in the planning. I recorded a podcast with Danny and Sam about this event and it will be posted soon The Walk for Stuttering Awareness is scheduled for September 23rd. This is a 1k/5k walk to benefit Canada’s Speech and Stuttering Institute. Check out the website for the event and show your support!.

The ambassador for this event is Jake Zeldin aka Lil Jaxe. Jake (pictured below)is a 13 old year hip hop artist from Toronto, Canada who made headlines when he went back stage at a Drake concert and rapped for Drake. Since that day Jake has performed at various functions through Canada and has made quite a name for himself. Click here to check out his website.

Also performing is Dave Espute, a soul/r&b artist from Ontario Canada who tours Ontario with his band “Icy Redd”.

This event is sure to be a success, but they are still in need of support and sponsors. Click here to learn about how you can support this incredible event for Stuttering.