The Stuttering Syndrome
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
Series IV Cycle C
Sean Lebowitz is an eighteen-year-old freshman at SUNY-Binghampton. He is also a stutterer. He talks and he sounds like -- in the words of his friends -- a scratched CD.
David Berger is a 26-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of Pittsburgh. He is writing a dissertation on ancient philosophy and doing so quite brilliantly, but it takes him ten seconds to say, "Hello," into the telephone.
Kurt Salierno is a carpenter living in Atlanta. He'd like to tell you his name, but most of the time all he can manage is "Kkkkkkk ... Kkkkkkk ... Kkkkkk!" Then, giving up, he says, "Most people I meet know me as George."
Sean, David, and Kurt are part of the three million people in the United States and 55 million around the world who struggle with this devastating problem.
What is really aggravating is that medical science has so few answers or remedies for the affliction. Doctors can't explain why stutterers frequently encounter no problems while whispering, acting, talking to pets, or singing. They cannot trace the pathology of stuttering, although some research now indicates that stutterers may be using the wrong hemisphere of their brains for speech resulting in verbal gridlock.
The problem is no respecter of persons. Famous stutterers include General Electric's CEO Jack Welch, author John Updike, actress Marilyn Monroe, actor James Earl Jones, singer Carly Simon, and England's Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Some biblical scholars believe Moses was a stutterer. He himself said, "I am not eloquent; I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue." Some wags suggest that the Israelites ended up in Canaan because Joshua misunderstood what Moses was trying to say. In response to a question as to where they were headed, all Moses could say was, "Ca-can-can-can." Joshua assumed he meant Canaan, when, in fact, he was trying to say Canada.
Ancient physicians thought that the problem was caused by the tongue being too long or too short, too wet or too dry. Remedies have included blistering the tongue, soaking it in lettuce juice, drilling holes into the skull, or slicing out pieces of the tongue itself.
Some stutterers trip up over particular phrases. For Sean, the bete noir is the simple phrase, "Thank you." The heart starts pounding, he starts sweating, and it seems an eternity before "thank you" is finally delivered.
Fortunately, stutterers can see problems coming up and can often verbally work around them.
Sean would like to say, "Thank you," and can't. Most of us can, and don't like to. Or, perhaps it is some other phrase that gives us a hard time. Parents generally try to teach their children to say their pleases and thank yous, but harder expressions, even for adults -- especially for adults -- don't come easily: "I was wrong," "I am sorry," "I don't know," and "Will you forgive me?"
When these phrases are called for, a lot of us develop the stuttering syndrome.
David Berger is a 26-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of Pittsburgh. He is writing a dissertation on ancient philosophy and doing so quite brilliantly, but it takes him ten seconds to say, "Hello," into the telephone.
Kurt Salierno is a carpenter living in Atlanta. He'd like to tell you his name, but most of the time all he can manage is "Kkkkkkk ... Kkkkkkk ... Kkkkkk!" Then, giving up, he says, "Most people I meet know me as George."
Sean, David, and Kurt are part of the three million people in the United States and 55 million around the world who struggle with this devastating problem.
What is really aggravating is that medical science has so few answers or remedies for the affliction. Doctors can't explain why stutterers frequently encounter no problems while whispering, acting, talking to pets, or singing. They cannot trace the pathology of stuttering, although some research now indicates that stutterers may be using the wrong hemisphere of their brains for speech resulting in verbal gridlock.
The problem is no respecter of persons. Famous stutterers include General Electric's CEO Jack Welch, author John Updike, actress Marilyn Monroe, actor James Earl Jones, singer Carly Simon, and England's Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Some biblical scholars believe Moses was a stutterer. He himself said, "I am not eloquent; I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue." Some wags suggest that the Israelites ended up in Canaan because Joshua misunderstood what Moses was trying to say. In response to a question as to where they were headed, all Moses could say was, "Ca-can-can-can." Joshua assumed he meant Canaan, when, in fact, he was trying to say Canada.
Ancient physicians thought that the problem was caused by the tongue being too long or too short, too wet or too dry. Remedies have included blistering the tongue, soaking it in lettuce juice, drilling holes into the skull, or slicing out pieces of the tongue itself.
Some stutterers trip up over particular phrases. For Sean, the bete noir is the simple phrase, "Thank you." The heart starts pounding, he starts sweating, and it seems an eternity before "thank you" is finally delivered.
Fortunately, stutterers can see problems coming up and can often verbally work around them.
Sean would like to say, "Thank you," and can't. Most of us can, and don't like to. Or, perhaps it is some other phrase that gives us a hard time. Parents generally try to teach their children to say their pleases and thank yous, but harder expressions, even for adults -- especially for adults -- don't come easily: "I was wrong," "I am sorry," "I don't know," and "Will you forgive me?"
When these phrases are called for, a lot of us develop the stuttering syndrome.
