The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXIII

JAHMAL DESENCLOS
MELISSA MA AND NICOLE PRECOURT, TEACHERS
Salemwood School, Malden, MA
Did you know that around 8 percent of U.S. kids have a speech disorder?
Stuttering is one type of speech disorder that kids are most likely to go through
from the ages of two to five. This creates constant problems with regular speech
fluency. Learning to work on my speech impediment in elementary school was
difficult, but as I got older and practiced more, I got better. Even though I have
gotten better, I know that stuttering will always be a part of my life. It still
affects me to this day, but only when I’m excited or angry.
“I’M GLAD I LEARNED
WAYS TO COPE WITH
THIS SPEECH DISORDER,
AND I’M GLAD I HAD
THE COURAGE AND
CONFIDENCE TO GO
TO SPEECH THERAPY.”
When I started kindergarten, I had to pick up a third language, English, which
took me a while. The one thing my parents noticed when I spoke English was
that I spoke with a stutter, and they didn’t think much of it until the stuttering
kept getting worse and worse. One night, I ended up crying because my parents
couldn’t understand what I was saying. My mom decided to take me to speech
therapy, and I was really nervous.
When I got to speech therapy, I met my teacher, Mrs. Amy. She gave me the
tools to cope with stuttering. I would go there to practice verbs and pronounce
words. As time passed, I realized that I needed to go to speech therapy, or else
my stuttering wouldn’t go away.
After doing speech therapy for a couple months, I ended up getting into a
routine. Every weekend, I would go into my room, look into a mirror, and
observe myself speaking. I would practice verbs and pronouncing words for ten
minutes. I also read out loud to help with my nervousness. A couple of months
later, I ended up going to speech therapy for the last time because I had done
everything I could do. My stuttering had decreased, I could pronounce words
very clearly, and most of all, I was confident!
Although my story may not be as cool or thrilling as those of some others, I still
showed courage, even if it was in the smallest of ways. Stuttering is a major
speech disorder that I would like to say I conquered. No, you can never really
conquer stuttering, but my hard work still feels like a major accomplishment!
I’m glad I learned ways to cope with this speech disorder, and I’m glad I had
the courage and confidence to go to speech therapy.
THE COURAGE OF CHILDREN: BOSTON AND BEYOND
VOLUME XXXIII
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