October 2005

While Christopher and I were catching colds in Germany this week, Mama was in southern Italy, where she got to hold the World Cup. Yes, that World Cup.

I graduated in 1980. Jimmy Carter was still President.

My hometown is exactly 1 mile square. If in summer you stood in the middle of any street, you could see cornfields at both ends.

In band I played bass clarinet. Nowadays I wish I had learned bass guitar.

I was active in speech, debate and theatre. Our best [...]

Thanks to everyone who helped with my homework from yesterday. You all answered as expected and helped prove the point that our therapist was trying to make to us. A year ago our answer would have been the same.

It is natural for us to associate stuttering with stress or fear. We’ve all had experiences where [...]

Christopher’s speech therapist gave us a homework assignment to ask 3 poeple a question. I’m going to cheat and do it on the Internet, and ask my readers to help me.

What causes people, especially children, to stutter?

Please leave your answer in comments or by mail in either English or German. We’re looking for spontaneous opinions, [...]

This evening in the bathtub Christopher suddenly told Mama, “I need help to speak better.” This is the first time he’s spoken so directly to us about his stuttering.

It’s a big step for him, and very timely. His speech therapist has suggested that the time is right for us as parents to become directly involved [...]