By Edward S. Herrington
I thoroughly enjoyed Gary Dickson”s “Press On: Imagine Darth Vader with a stutter,” which was brought to my attention via an e-list for parents of children who stutter. Mr. Dickson”s heartfelt piece was very informative. I am heartened that he dedicated a column to International Stuttering Awareness Day, which on Thursday likely will go unnoticed by the national press once again, especially with the launch of Microsoft”s new Windows 7 on the same day.
I just want to make some quick comments about Mr. Dickson”s opinion piece. First, he mentioned the names of some of the famous people who have stuttered. A comprehensive (and fascinating!) list of famous people who stutter can be found on the Web site of The Stuttering Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org).
Also, Mr. Dickson mentioned that great strides have been made in the treatment of stuttering. I would like to point out that the Web site of the nonprofit Stuttering Foundation also has a downloadable brochure entitled “Special Education Law and Stuttering,” which explains in detail how every child enrolled in school in the United States has the right to free speech therapy, under federal law, regardless of whether the child is enrolled in a public, private or religious school. This awesome right to free speech therapy can start as early as pre-school and go up all the way through high school. Parents need to be informed of this great benefit of free speech therapy for their kids, which doesn”t only cover stuttering, but all the other speech problems as well.
Edward S. Herrington
Longmeadow, Mass.
