20 Nov 2014
Serious Concerns about Speech Therapy for People Who Stutter in the Public Schools (Ep. 484)
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Taro Alexander joins Peter Reitzes to discuss serious concerns about speech therapy for people who stutter in the public schools. Mr. Alexander is asked about a very upsetting presentation he recently attended in the schools in which speech-language pathologists were “trained” to encourage students to change words, to use starter or filler sounds sounds such as “um” to postpone stuttering and shown to use words like “yucky” when discussing stuttering and speech tools with students.
TARO ALEXANDER, is Founder and Director of SAY: The Stuttering Association for the Young, formerly Our Time. Mr. Alexander founded SAY 14 years ago. He is an accomplished performer, teacher, and director who has stuttered since the age of five. SAY is guided by the belief that a young person who stutters has a voice that matters and it is a voice that deserves to be heard. SAY’s programming includes their Building Confident Voices programs after school and on weekends, speech therapy and an annual summer camp in North Carolina.
3 Nov 2018
Camp SAY West Coast (Ep. 658)
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Taro Alexander and Loryn McGill join Reuben Schuff to discuss Camp SAY West Coast. SAY is the Stuttering Association for the Young.
Taro Alexander, SAY’s Founder & President, created and heads all SAY programs since the organization’s inception in 2001. Taro established Camp SAY in 2008, and in addition to camp, Taro has led SAY’s Confident Voices program, teaching writing, dance, acting, directing, and music to children, 8-18. Taro has directed more than 1,000 original plays with music written and performed by kids who stutter. Prior to SAY, Taro worked as a professional actor, and was a cast member of STOMP. Taro enjoys spending time with his family – his talented wife Leigh, and their three children.
Loryn McGill, M.S. CCC-SLP, was one of the Camp SAY West Coast 2018 Leadership coordinators and is a speech-language pathologist and founder of her private practice OC Fluency Center. Additionally she is faculty at Chapman University as well as part of a multidisciplinary team at UC Riverside working on stuttering. She presents and organizes one-day conferences for FRIENDS, speaks at national and international workshops on stuttering, is a NSA family chapter co-leader, and educates school districts on stuttering intervention. When she is not chasing around her toddler, she can be found snowboarding and sailing.
Reuben Schuff is an author and roving host for StutterTalk. By profession and passion he is an aerospace engineer, and also, a traveler, a juggler, a Toastmaster, and a person who stutters. He is a workshop presenter for the National Stuttering Association annual conference and is the co-founder of the Raleigh Teens Who Stutter (TWST) chapter of the NSA. Reuben also facilitates and presents with FRIENDS: the National Organization for Young People who Stutter. Reuben is author of the chapter Fluency: My Untrustworthy Friend in the StutterTalk book: Stuttering: Inspiring Stories and Professional Wisdom.