“I like your sssparkly toes!”

The young blonde girl said as she zoomed past me at the conference.

“Thank you!” I yelled to the back of her as she continued on.

Later I had a chance to meet and bond with Olivia, who told me that she is 9 years old, stutters and was there with her dad.

“Do you stutter?” she asked.

“No, my son does.” I replied.

“How old is he?” Olivia continued.

“21.” I said.

Twenty-one and this was Phillip's first conference, unlike Olivia, who at 9 has attended for several years, which left me wishing that I knew such an organization existed when he was younger.


Being introduced to the National Stuttering Association at an early age, will hopefully buffer Olivia from the devastating anxiety, shame, fear, solitude and depression that so many stutterers have within them.

Did you know that there are over 2 million adult stutterers in the U.S. alone?

I sure didn’t.

So with only 600 people, encompassing the stutterers and their families/support people, attending this year’s conference...that says that we MUST get the “word out”.

lets shout