ShareThisBy LISA HEYAMOTO
Sacramento Bee
Friday, August 17, 2007
Matt Goodwin is a hand-raiser. If he's in class and he knows the answer, up goes the hand and out come the words.
Except sometimes, the words don't come.
At times like that his hand stays pocketed; on days like that, his mouth stays closed. Goodwin, 15, is one of 3 million Americans who stutter, and when he knows he's not going to be able to say what he wants to say, sometimes it's not worth it to try.
"When I'm having a bad day and I can't talk, I just sit there and stare at everyone," he said.
Those days don't happen as much as they used to. With the help of therapy and a special speech device, Goodwin has largely overcome the stutter he's been fighting since he was 6 years old. But as he anticipates the beginning of school each year, his speech becomes a bit less fluent, his words linger longer on his tongue. Thousands of kids are preparing to go back to school, but for those with a stutter, it can feel more like preparing for battle.
"The school year is really traumatic (for kids who stutter)," said Jane Fraser, president of a national advocacy group, the Stuttering Foundation. "Are the other kids going to notice? Are they going to laugh at you? Are you going to have to be called on in class? I think it makes any child nervous."
Experts say part of the reason kids who stutter have such a hard time at school is that, unlike physical or mental disorders, the issue isn't openly addressed.
"It's not talked about," said Nancy Barcal, a speech pathologist who specializes in stuttering. "It's really ignored, and it makes people feel isolated because nobody knows about stuttering."
With his recently released movie "Rocket Science," filmmaker Jeffrey Blitz is trying to get the word out. The main character of his film, a stuttering kid named Hal who joins the high school debate team, is based on Blitz himself, who went from a geeky freshman to a state debate champion.
Diane Martinelli doesn't yet have the benefit of hindsight, and she's definitely nervous. The 14-year-old will be starting Whitney High School in Rocklin, Calif., this year, but she's scared of more than just getting lost or forgetting her locker combination -- she fears outright rejection.
"It's harder to make new friends," she said. "Some people just ignore it, but other people try to finish my sentences or look at me weird."
Stress doesn't cause stuttering, but it can make a bad thing worse. When Goodwin had to give an oral presentation in eighth grade, he was filled with dread the night before. When Martinelli is asked to read aloud, she feels like the whole class is staring.
Barcal has heard countless stories of stutterers faking a sickness, skipping out or even pretending they don't know how to read rather than risk reading aloud in class.
Teachers should not expect anything less from a child who stutters, but they should recognize that even something as seemingly simple as telling your classmates your name and what you did over the summer can be a cause for terror.
That's why it's best for parents to talk to teachers upfront about their child's stuttering, says Maria Lopez, spokeswoman for the Sacramento City Unified School District. Most school districts have a team of speech therapists who can help coach kids through their stutter.
Though there are a host of stuttering therapies, there is no blanket cure for the disorder, and sometimes it takes a few tries before something sticks.
Both Goodwin and Martinelli learned to control their stutters through years of hard work and therapy. Martinelli even joined a leadership program that requires frequent public speaking.
She's started doing things she'd been afraid to do before, and says she feels a new confidence about starting high school.
"I'll just try to be myself," she said.
Lisa Heyamoto can be reached at lheyamoto(at)sacbee.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
