The Association of Future Speech Language Pathologist is currently on their 16th year of Stuttering Awareness Week on CMU Campus. During this week the organization has several programs to bring awareness to this speech disorder that millions of individuals worldwide struggle with. The organization put on a program entitled, “Stuttering: A Panel of Experts” this program was free and open to the public and included 12 panelist who were willing to not only tell their story but also answer any questions that anyone in the audience may ask.

Over 70 million individuals worldwide stutter. Central Michigan University offers various resources to assist these individuals. In addition to the university's highly recognized Communication Disorders (CDO) major, there is also an on campus speech clinic which offers free therapy to individuals with a wide variety of speech disorders.

Associate Professor and Division Director Speech-Language Pathology Suzanne Woods has been practicing CDO for over 30 years and has a passion for helping these individuals.

“Anyone can come to our speech clinic and receiving the therapy they need for free, we are here to help them.” Woods said. “We also want to continue to make huge strides in stuttering awareness.”

Jessika Kennedy opened up and expressed her struggles dealing with stuttering at a young age.

“In school I was constantly teased and harassed by others for something that I couldn’t control.” the Romulus senior said, “However, being a stutterer pushed me to become a stronger person and I challenged myself daily to get involved more often in public speaking.”

The members on this panel ranged in ages from middle school aged children to adults and all had different experiences in life dealing with stuttering.

Jacob Leadbetter gave his insight of being an individual who stutters and playing sports in high school.

“Being a quarterback in high school while dealing with stuttering problems was quite challenging to say the least," Leadbetter said. "As a quarterback you are in charge of the team and not being able to call out the calls whenever I want was difficult to deal with.“

Leadbetter said that Woods has helped him tremendously cope with speaking issues and has even given him a little more confidence.

“Stuttering allows you to see who your real friends are," he said. "People have to be patient with you and also support you and some people aren’t ready for that commitment.”

In the United States over 3 million Americans stutter. Although some cases are worse than others, this speech disorders hinders individual’s daily communication habits, from being able to speak to strangers to answering the phone.

“Being interviewed for jobs can sometimes be nerve wracking, but I’ve learned to make it known in the beginning of the interview that I stutter.” said panel attendee Paul Martin, a CMU alumni. "Stuttering is something that I do, but it is not who I am.”

Central’s CDO department has been in existence for over 75 years and is widely known across the country. Individuals interested in getting involved more with this organization or would like to receive further details about other stuttering support events contact Suzanne Woods via email at suzanne.woods@cmich.edu