355/365 – people to thank who have had an impact on me. Most of you are probably not aware of the following about me: I have a speech impediment. I stutter. I grew up with it and it was much worse back when I was in elementary. Oh yeah, if you have been reading these gratitude posts and know about my childhood – just add one more thing in the mix to be bullied about 😉 In my case, the thing that made my stuttering much worse was if someone noticed it and reacted to it and I noticed that reaction – well, my brain was thrown into flux and I would be stuck on a particular word and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get past it. That was the thing – I wasn’t supposed to get past it, I was supposed to switch tactics for my form of stuttering. My speech pathologist, who I totally don’t remember but had one of the biggest influences on my speech impediment, gave me two pieces of advice. First, stop the moment I was getting stuck on a word and immediately think of a synonym or a couple of words having the same meaning. Most of you who know me probably don’t realize I do that – at times, I try to feign looking contemplative but I probably come off as a bit slow but I’m okay with it as it is giving me that breathing room to continue on speaking. It’s much harder to do in a classroom when I am teaching and that is where I notice my stuttering even moreso. This is where my speech pathologist’s second piece of advice came in handy – tell people about my condition. I haven’t really told friends. Only immediate family know (like my sister and mother and a few cousins and aunts). I guess you as reader now know. However, I tell all of my classes/students about my stuttering because early on in my career, I kept it a secret and when it would happen, I would hear snickering and of course, that added to my embarrassment which in turn increased my stuttering and I would be stuck on a word for 30 seconds to a minute. Now, I take the bull by the horns and let the students know what my inability is. I tell them that it’s not if it will happen, it’s when and when it does, please don’t make me aware of it as I know what’s happening and will quickly try to correct myself with a synonym. Most often, I’m pretty quick at it but other times, I have to consciously stop, refocus and start again and I honestly can say that I haven’t had a student in the last decade or so get me flustered because they have empathy for my speech impediment. Thank you to my speech pathologist for the two greatest pieces of advice that have helped me so much in life and career!
randysangha 