And now a word from the other VP hopeful!

August 30, 2008

And special needs on the other side....

What You Didn't Know About Joe Biden

By Ekman

Posted August 23, 2008

Born in Scranton, Pa., on Nov. 20, 1942, he and his family moved to

Delaware in 1953. His father, the manager of a car dealership,

affectionately called his oldest child " Champ. "

As a child, Biden stuttered and was teased by his classmates. He

practiced reading aloud in front of a mirror and worked hard to

overcome it. During law school he befriended a stutterer and worked

with him regularly on his speech. Now Biden is known as a loquacious

orator.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/campaign-2008/2008/08/23/what-you-didnt-know\

-about-joe-biden.html

They called him B-biden

27 AUG 2008 • by Barry Yeoman

I was walking to the Pepsi Center in Denver this week, talking with a

former public official from Illinois. The conversation turned to Sen.

Joe Biden. " I have a personal question, " she said to me. " You don't

have to answer it. Do you think the fact that Biden began life

stuttering causes him to compensate by talking a lot? "

It was not an unreasonable question: My stutter is often the first

thing strangers notice about me. It short-circuits my speech and

causes me to jerk my head when I'm trying to look like a competent

professional. While stuttering forces some people into painful

introversion, it also launches many of us into the hard work of self-

acceptance. Eventually for us, talking becomes an act of liberation.

For stutterers, tonight is our moment on the national stage. Although

Biden's speech impediment started abating in high school and pretty

much disappeared in college, it is now a part of his public

biography. " They called him B-b-biden, " Barack Obama said when he

introduced the Delaware senator last week as his vice-presidential

pick. " He picked himself up. He worked harder than the other guys. "

My closest encounter with Biden came in 2004, when he spoke to a self-

help group called the National Stuttering Association at its annual

convention in Baltimore. Biden admitted to us that, at 61, this was

the first time he had ever spoken publicly and candidly about the

subject. " When I first started my job as a U.S. senator, " he

said, " while those who knew me knew I stuttered, I was reluctant to

be nationally identified with it. "

It turns out that school kids weren't the only ones who mimicked

Biden. " I shouldn't tell you this, " he said. Then he launched into a

story about reading aloud in a seventh-grade class at a Catholic

school. When he mispronounced " gentleman, " the nun who taught the

class asked him to repeat the word. This time, he stuttered on the

initial G. The nun looked at him with contempt. " Mr. B-b-biden, " she

said.

" In my anger, I got up and did something I never thought I'd ever

do, " Biden recounted. " I walked to the front of the room, walked by

the nun—she put up her hand to stop me—and pushed her away, walked

out the door, walked downstairs and walked two-and-a-half miles

home. " Biden was certain he'd get in trouble: In his family, sassing

a nun was grounds for serious punishment. Instead, he said, his

mother packed him into the car, drove back to the school and

confronted both the nun and the principal. Through the wall, Biden

heard his mother say, " Sister, let me tell you something right now.

If you ever make fun of my son again, I'll come back and rip that

damned bonnet off your head. "

Stuttering chewed at Biden's self-esteem, he said. But it also gave

him " broad shoulders " —the ability to withstand hard times—and empathy

for underdogs. And it toughened him up. " I spent a fair amount of

time learning how to physically handle myself, " he said, " because you

can make fun of me, but you better prepare to fight me. "

Biden captivated us with his confessional vulnerability. His

tenderness toward the children in the room was particularly moving.

Not everything he said, though, sat well with me. " The reason I don't

stutter anymore is I went to a [high] school that had, twice a week,

public-speaking class everyone had to take, " he claimed. " I had

people who believed in me. "

I am sure that Biden honestly believes this. But if it were true,

then speech pathologists would have an easy cure for stuttering, a

condition that affects roughly 1 adult in 100 and stubbornly resists

efforts to find a " cure. " More likely, I'm guessing, Biden outgrew

his impediment, as many children do. And while he never said this

outright, his implicit advice to the kids in the room was that if

they want to succeed, their first task was to find a therapy that

would help them speak more fluently.

I diplomatically confronted the senator about this during the Q & A

that followed. " There are some number of kids in here, " I said, " who

will be embraced and believed in, who as adults will still stutter,

and might stutter severely, and can still be successful speakers and

lawyers and professionals. "

" Absolutely, " Biden said. " That's what I was trying to say: Don't

measure success based upon the degree to which you conquer or meet

the standard you think you want to meet to be able to communicate

verbally. " But he added, " We can't kid ourselves: The power of the

message to persuade relates directly to the willingness of the other

person to listen. "

Someone else asked Biden whether he was likely to be tapped as

Kerry's running mate. " I don't think that's in the cards, " Biden

said. " I've kind of indicated to him I don't think I'd like to be

vice president. Don't get me wrong. I'm not denigrating the vice

presidency, although I am fond of that famous expression: 'I once had

two brothers. One went to sea and one became vice president, and I

heard from neither again.' " Evidently, the senator has changed his

mind. Tonight, when he addresses the Pepsi Center, I'll be listening

closely for a hint of hesitation. I don't expect to hear any.

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A263255

=====

September 1, 2008

We spent lots of time talking about the Palin (ongoing media)

speculation- but nobody here commented on the post I sent out about

Biden's stuttering. Even though we have some parents here who have

a child with Down Syndrome -almost 100% of us represent someone with

a speech impairment. I thought some would comment on the article I

chose because the writer clearly doesn't believe that Biden

has " true " stuttering because he overcame it during his high school

years and the author was upset that Biden tries to give others hope

that they too can overcome stuttering as well as he did and

apparently some stutterers don't believe this possible. These

stutterers call Joe Biden a " developmental stutterer " Anyway -what's

the thought about " developmental stuttering " lasting until high

school? Is that even possible?! And how do they know he isn't

using something or that he's developed extremely good strategies to

overcome in public? It's not like anyone knew Harry Potter couldn't

tie his shoes while he fights off dementors and is the only one strong

enough to battle Voldemort .

Regardless the Stuttering Foundation doesn't seem to care -the

Stuttering Foundation lists Biden on it's page of famous people that

stutter which includes Tiger Woods, Earl , Marilyn Monroe,

Bruce Willis and so many others

http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=128 It's as we

always say here -just because you don't see someone break down in

public doesn't mean they don't in private. If you read about Joe

Biden just like our apraxic children, teen and adults that are

successful he practices in a mirror and also memorizes what he is

going to say.

Here's a great video where Joe Biden is interviewed about his

stuttering. They say he doesn't stutter anymore and he clearly

doesn't have a clear stutter outside the time he did it deliberately -

but I can hear a slight " Mr. Bumpy " a few other times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEBTjYHnB2w

And here he is presenting at the American Institute for Stuttering/AIS

" it teaches you to (couldn't make out the first thing) it teaches you

to memorize, it teaches you to anticipate and it teaches you an awful

lot of things and in truth in my darkest days I would not trade my

stuttering today for what it's taught me and what it's made me.

Because it's been the single most beneficial thing that's ever

happened to me how do you overcome it. "

Here's a clip from an interview he had on Today

" It's a funny thing to say, but even if I could, I wouldn't wish away

the darkest days of the stutter. That impedimenta ended up being a

godsend for me. Carrying it strengthened me and, I hoped, made me a

better person. And the very things it taught me turned out to be

invaluable lessons for my life as well as my chosen career. "

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20049251/

How incredible he's so positive! What a role model!!

What type of awareness do you think this will mean for the speech

disabled if he's elected as VP?! Not just awareness but to all of

our children with speech impairments to show them once again

that 'anything' is possible!

Even if it's just him and Obama isn't a stutterer too...

http://www.1stutterer.com/2008/07/does-obama-stutter.html

=====

September 1, 2008

Excellent Post! Thank you ! Very good points!

From: kiddietalk <kiddietalk@...>

Subject: [ ] Re: And now a " word " from the other VP hopeful!

Date: Monday, September 1, 2008, 4:09 PM

We spent lots of time talking about the Palin (ongoing media)

speculation- but nobody here commented on the post I sent out about

Biden's stuttering. Even though we have some parents here who have

a child with Down Syndrome -almost 100% of us represent someone with

a speech impairment. I thought some would comment on the article I

chose because the writer clearly doesn't believe that Biden

has " true " stuttering because he overcame it during his high school

years and the author was upset that Biden tries to give others hope

that they too can overcome stuttering as well as he did and

apparently some stutterers don't believe this possible. These

stutterers call Joe Biden a " developmental stutterer " Anyway

-what's

the thought about " developmental stuttering " lasting until high

school? Is that even possible?! And how do they know he isn't

using something or that he's developed extremely good strategies to

overcome in public? It's not like anyone knew Harry Potter couldn't

tie his shoes while he fights off dementors and is the only one strong

enough to battle Voldemort .

Regardless the Stuttering Foundation doesn't seem to care -the

Stuttering Foundation lists Biden on it's page of famous people that

stutter which includes Tiger Woods, Earl , Marilyn Monroe,

Bruce Willis and so many others

http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=128 It's as we

always say here -just because you don't see someone break down in

public doesn't mean they don't in private. If you read about Joe

Biden just like our apraxic children, teen and adults that are

successful he practices in a mirror and also memorizes what he is

going to say.

Here's a great video where Joe Biden is interviewed about his

stuttering. They say he doesn't stutter anymore and he clearly

doesn't have a clear stutter outside the time he did it deliberately -

but I can hear a slight " Mr. Bumpy " a few other times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEBTjYHnB2w

And here he is presenting at the American Institute for Stuttering/AIS

" it teaches you to (couldn't make out the first thing) it teaches you

to memorize, it teaches you to anticipate and it teaches you an awful

lot of things and in truth in my darkest days I would not trade my

stuttering today for what it's taught me and what it's made me.

Because it's been the single most beneficial thing that's ever

happened to me how do you overcome it. "

Here's a clip from an interview he had on Today

" It's a funny thing to say, but even if I could, I wouldn't wish

away

the darkest days of the stutter. That impedimenta ended up being a

godsend for me. Carrying it strengthened me and, I hoped, made me a

better person. And the very things it taught me turned out to be

invaluable lessons for my life as well as my chosen career. "

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20049251/

How incredible he's so positive! What a role model!!

What type of awareness do you think this will mean for the speech

disabled if he's elected as VP?! Not just awareness but to all of

our children with speech impairments to show them once again

that 'anything' is possible!

Even if it's just him and Obama isn't a stutterer too...

http://www.1stutterer.com/2008/07/does-obama-stutter.html

=====

September 1, 2008

I'm sorry, I read the article before when I first learned of the VP pick.

I stuttered until continuously until 3rd grade. I still stutter but not often.

When I see Biden stop and take a moment, I wouldn't be surprised if he is using

the same method I was taught in school about breathing and counting before you

speak. Hmmmm, I don't place my stuttering in the same category as my daughter's

speech delay because it didn't severely interfere my ability to learn.

>

> From: kiddietalk <kiddietalk@...>

> Subject: [ ] Re: And now a

> " word " from the other VP hopeful!

>

> Date: Monday, September 1, 2008, 4:09 PM

>

> We spent lots of time talking about the Palin (ongoing

> media)

> speculation- but nobody here commented on the post I sent

> out about

> Biden's stuttering. Even though we have some parents

> here who have

> a child with Down Syndrome -almost 100% of us represent

> someone with

> a speech impairment. I thought some would comment on the

> article I

> chose because the writer clearly doesn't believe that

> Biden

> has " true " stuttering because he overcame it

> during his high school

> years and the author was upset that Biden tries to give

> others hope

> that they too can overcome stuttering as well as he did and

>

> apparently some stutterers don't believe this possible.

> These

> stutterers call Joe Biden a " developmental

> stutterer " Anyway

> -what's

> the thought about " developmental stuttering "

> lasting until high

> school? Is that even possible?! And how do they know he

> isn't

> using something or that he's developed extremely good

> strategies to

> overcome in public? It's not like anyone knew Harry

> Potter couldn't

> tie his shoes while he fights off dementors and is the only

> one strong

> enough to battle Voldemort .

>

> Regardless the Stuttering Foundation doesn't seem to

> care -the

> Stuttering Foundation lists Biden on it's page of

> famous people that

> stutter which includes Tiger Woods, Earl ,

> Marilyn Monroe,

> Bruce Willis and so many others

> http://www.stutteringhelp.org/Default.aspx?tabid=128

> It's as we

> always say here -just because you don't see someone

> break down in

> public doesn't mean they don't in private. If you

> read about Joe

> Biden just like our apraxic children, teen and adults that

> are

> successful he practices in a mirror and also memorizes what

> he is

> going to say.

>

> Here's a great video where Joe Biden is interviewed

> about his

> stuttering. They say he doesn't stutter anymore and he

> clearly

> doesn't have a clear stutter outside the time he did it

> deliberately -

> but I can hear a slight " Mr. Bumpy " a few other

> times.

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEBTjYHnB2w

>

> And here he is presenting at the American Institute for

> Stuttering/AIS

> " it teaches you to (couldn't make out the first

> thing) it teaches you

> to memorize, it teaches you to anticipate and it teaches

> you an awful

> lot of things and in truth in my darkest days I would not

> trade my

> stuttering today for what it's taught me and what

> it's made me.

> Because it's been the single most beneficial thing

> that's ever

> happened to me how do you overcome it. "

>

> Here's a clip from an interview he had on Today

> " It's a funny thing to say, but even if I could, I

> wouldn't wish

> away

> the darkest days of the stutter. That impedimenta ended up

> being a

> godsend for me. Carrying it strengthened me and, I hoped,

> made me a

> better person. And the very things it taught me turned out

> to be

> invaluable lessons for my life as well as my chosen

> career. "

> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20049251/

>

> How incredible he's so positive! What a role model!!

>

> What type of awareness do you think this will mean for the

> speech

> disabled if he's elected as VP?! Not just awareness

> but to all of

> our children with speech impairments to show them once

> again

> that 'anything' is possible!

>

> Even if it's just him and Obama isn't a stutterer

> too...

> http://www.1stutterer.com/2008/07/does-obama-stutter.html

>

> =====

>

September 1, 2008

- I hear that's the strategy that Marilyn Monroe was taught

and why she sounded so breathy

http://www.veilsofstuttering.com/speech.html

Do you sing " happy birthday " to your husband like her? )

What is your daughter's speech delay from and what is causing her

inability to learn? Are you positive it's a learning disability?

Outside of the myths of today's autism, most speech impairments don't

automatically place a child at risk for learning unless they have a

co existing learning disability or co existing cognitive or receptive

delay. That's one of the myths of the verbal disabled. Most with a

speech impairment have average IQs just like anyone else. The only

group here that has to fight that more than anyone else are those who

have children diagnosed autistic today because now it's linked to the

following misconceptions from various organizations due to what

autism used to be (come on -we all know autism today isn't the same

autism it was don't we?!)

" Of the problems that can occur with autism, mental retardation is

the most widespread. Seventy-five to 80 percent of people with autism

are mentally retarded to some extent. Fifteen to 20 percent are

considered severely retarded, with IQs below 35 "

But autism does not necessarily correspond with mental impairment.

More than 10 percent of people with autism have an average or above

average IQ. A few show exceptional intelligence.

http://www.autisticsociety.org/Encyclopedia/op=list_content/eid=20.html

" Mental retardation. Many children with ASD have some degree of

mental impairment. When tested, some areas of ability may be normal,

while others may be especially weak. For example, a child with ASD

may do well on the parts of the test that measure visual skills but

earn low scores on the language subtests. "

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/autism/complete-publication.shtml

Blood Markers Associated with Autism and Mental Retardation

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/press_releases/pressrelease_autism_0425\

01.htm

" A new report in the April issue of Pediatrics suggests that the

increase in autism may be due to improved diagnostics that have led

to children who would previously have been diagnosed with mental

retardation or learning disabilities being diagnosed with autism "

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,190393,00.html

Unlike autism stuttering isn't linked to such negative stereotypes

about cognitive ability. Many may not be aware that like apraxia,

stuttering is also a motor planning disorder. One stuttering expert from

Canada once said that " apraxia may be the most severe form of

stuttering " I told that to the Stuttering Foundation in my search to

find a strong arm to embrace the many children, teens and adults who grew

up or are growing up with apraxia.

I mean we can't count on ASHA with the lame CAS name!

Stuttering has incredible advocacy in the Stuttering Foundation and

other organizations. Here's just one document

STUTTERING AS A DISABILITY UNDER THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

OF 1990 By D. Parry, Esquire, Chair

National Stuttering Project Advocacy Committee

http://members.aol.com/wdparry/ada.htm

But...dyspraxia is a diagnosis name possibility too.

=====

September 2, 2008

Well, I'm no Marlyn Monroe and I'm Divorced. Let me reword what I said because

I was definitely incorrect. My daughter is learning but I believe the speech

delay is restricting her communication. My daughter is recovering from Autism

and Language is one of the many areas we are working on.

From: kiddietalk <kiddietalk@...>

Subject: [ ] Re: And now a " word " from the other VP hopeful!

Date: Monday, September 1, 2008, 11:12 PM

- I hear that's the strategy that Marilyn Monroe was taught

and why she sounded so breathy

http://www.veilsofs tuttering. com/speech. html