What did Winston Churchill, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin have in common? Not only did their lives shape history, but their ability to convey gigantic ideas was all the more remarkable because each stuttered.
"The movies often portray the stereotype of people who stutter as being less intelligent," said Professor Peter Ramig of the University of Colorado at Boulder. "That certainly is not the case." In fact, even a couple of Hollywood聮s best-known stars with unique speaking styles - Marilyn Monroe and James Earl Jones - stuttered.
Ramig and a team of five other nationally recognized experts working with the non-profit Stuttering Foundation of America offered these examples as part of a new videotape designed to help older adolescents and adults who stutter.
The 55-minute videotape - "If You Stutter: Advice for Adults" - also will be a tool for the some 90,000 speech pathologists in the American Speech, Language, Hearing Association. Ramig said these certified professionals have found that stuttering "is the disorder that they feel the least comfortable with and feel they know the least about."
Some 3 million Americans stutter, and this video features men and women who stutter discussing the personal problems they faced in the workplace and everyday life, and how stuttering affected their lives and self-esteem until they took steps toward therapy and help.
They relate how embarrassment over their speech problems translated, in their student days, into being afraid to raise their hands in a class even if they knew the answer to a question, and as adults by failing in public speaking situations. "If I get a block, I feel awful about myself," said one, "There聮s got to be a way out of this."
Ramig, a professor of speech pathology, was a stutterer himself until he began therapy at the age of 24. "I was hurting so much, was terribly embarrassed and ashamed. That is typical of people who stutter until they become motivated enough and ready to make the change."
The tape emphasized there is no proven correlation between intelligence and stuttering, but that does not lessen the embarrassment, frustration and impact on the self-esteem for those battling the disorder. Like a coach helping a pitcher who can聮t throw strikes, the tape offers patterns and techniques that demonstrate how people can work to become more effective communicators.
"Lasting improvement requires many changes," the experts proclaim.
Familes can help nurture the needed changes, and individuals can learn to analyze their language and confront their fears. "Become your own therapist and don聮t let stuttering rule your life or compromise your career goals," declared one patient. "Let your abilities define who you are.
One lesson is for stutterers to learn to do speak in a purposeful and controlled way. Through such practices as using easy, relaxed speech, good phrasing and resisting time pressure, they can modify how they speak.
While this videotape focuses on older adolescents and adults, the Foundation also has produced programs for children and teen-agers who stutter. It will be made available free to libraries, and sold for only five dollars to individuals, through the Stuttering Foundation of America at (800) 992-9392 or Post Office Box 11749, Memphis, TN, 38111-0749.
The web addresses are . org and stutter @ vantek.net.