Description
Ever wondered what it would be like if you couldn’t speak? Maybe you’ve experienced it yourself?
Stuttering is something that affects 45,000 New Zealanders and yet relatively little is known about it by the majority of the population.
If you’d like to know what having a stutter is like, or you would like to read about the experiences of people who stutter just like you, take a look at this book and you will get a real inside look.
We have had submissions from many kids of all ages around New Zealand who stutter, who have shared their unique experiences as a young person who stutters in the form of poetry, stories, and drawings. These talented young kids share their triumphs, failures, low points, and high points, in the hope that their experiences can help another person.
We hope you enjoy!
Melva Ritchie –
This is a lovely and sad and insightful book. It’s a fantastic book for children without a stutter to understand what it might be like to have a stutter, and great for those who stutter to have a variety of feelings explored. I am a Speech-Language Therapist so it’s also an excellent therapy resource to broach those tricky feelings in an understanding way (by first saying ‘this is what .x. said they felt…when have you felt like that?). Highly recommended book!
Duncan Carter –
It is wonderful to see the efforts of this excellent organisation come to fruition in a way that can be enjoyed by all. I have a beautiful daughter who stutters who has massively benefitted from START’s services (and who has also contributed to this book – VERY proud dad moment!). I applaud their work and would wholeheartedly recommend their services to anybody. The world needs more goodwill and open-mindedness concerning subjects that are not well understood such as stuttering and START are blazing a trail to this end…
Eric Allan –
Children from 5 to 13 have written thoughtful, moving and insightful contributions or contributed by art or poetry to create this important book. Very helpful facts about stuttering are also included throughout. Children and adults alike will learn from it. It is a great resource for people who stutter and for those people who care about them. It is also a thoughtful resource for people who want to learn more about stuttering and its potential impacts and a great conversation starter! Well done contributors and START team alike!
Linda Rotaeche –
It is a wonderfully insightful book.
My own daughter Elena started stuttering when she was 4, and we did speech therapy with Anna Hearne. Anna was absolutely amazing. It was as if she lifted a huge weight of our shoulders and made all our lives so much better.
Elena has never been able to verbalise exactly what she feels when her words ‘get stuck’. And although it was easy to see the pain and frustration she was feeling, it has been very interesting for me to read how some of the children have described their experiences.
Elena is now almost 8 and doing very well, speaking smoothly most of the time – but every now and then her words still get stuck, and I think her stutter (although very minimal now) will probably be part of her life for the rest of her life.
It has been heartwarming to read how optimistic some of the contributions are, which gives me hope that my daughter will be just fine, even if her stutter will accompany her through life.
I work as a teacher aide at a primary school, and I’ll be sharing the book with all teachers and teacher aides at my school.
Thank you for all the fantastic work you and your team are doing.
It means so much!