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NOTE: Customize slide by adding your name and contact info. Your Name Email Address. Stuttering in the Workplace. 1 in every 100 adults stutter. There are about 3 million adults in the US workforce who stutter. Employers often overlook the true potential of people who stutter.
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NOTE: Customize slide by adding your name and contact info Your Name Email Address
Stuttering in the Workplace • 1 in every 100 adults stutter. • There are about 3 million adults in the US workforce who stutter. • Employers often overlook the true potential of people who stutter. • People who stutter have the same drive, ambition and capabilities as their more fluent colleagues.
What is Stuttering? • Stuttering is a communication disorder where the normal flow of speech is involuntarily disrupted. • Stuttering generally involves repetitions or prolongations of sounds and syllables, or hesitations or blocks in making voiced sounds.
What is Stuttering? • Stuttering may also be accompanied by secondary behaviors, such as closing the eyes or arm movements that are intended to avoid, postpone, or hide the disfluency. • People who stutter know exactly what they want to say, they just might physically have trouble saying it.
What is Stuttering? • The precise causes of stuttering are still unknown. • Researchers consider stuttering to be neurologically and genetically based. • There is no cure for stuttering.
People Hide their Stuttering • Companies may not realize some of their employees stutter because those who do, often feel compelled to hide it. • People who stutter worry about being judged as less intelligent and less competent. • Some people who stutter avoid speaking situations from conference calls to presentations to meetings to after work social situations.
Stuttering Myths • False beliefs about people who stutter persist. • Myths include that people who stutter are: • Shy • Nervous • Insecure • Unsociable • Less educated • Less capable • Non-assertive • Anxious
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Successful Careers • Marketing Managers • Sales Representatives • Speech Language Pathologists • Customer Service Reps. • Web Developers • Industrial Engineers • Teachers • Lawyers • Physicians • Finance Specialists • IT & Software Developers • Entrepreneurs
People Who Stutter Are Great Hires • Benefits brought to the workplace by people who stutter may include: • Patience, perseverance, and resilience gained from dealing with their stuttering. • Greater empathy and sensitivity to others. • Better listening skills. • Appreciation in the value of preparation. • Enhancement of your organization's image as one that promotes diversity and inclusion.
Listening to a Person who Stutters • Listen just like you would anyone else. • Maintain natural eye contact, even when the person is stuttering. • Focus on what the person is saying, not how they are saying it. • Do not try to fill in words or complete the person’s sentences. • Don’t equate hesitant speech with uncertainty.
Helping a Person who Stutters • Foster a judgement free work environment. • Be open and talk about stuttering with the person who stutters. • Encourage the person who stutters to disclose their stuttering to supervisors and co-workers.
National Stuttering Association • The National Stuttering Association (NSA) is a non-profit organization founded in 1977. • The NSA brings hope and empowerment to adults and children who stutter, their families, and speech professionals through support, education, advocacy, and research. • The NSA has local self-help chapters for Adults, Kids, Teens, Family, and Military personnel.
NOTE: Customize this page with a photo of your Chapter and information about when/where your Chapter meets. NSA San Diego Chapter • XX members • Meets monthly on the 4th Wednesday of each month (6:00 -7:45 PM) • Mission Valley Library 2123 Fenton Pkwy San Diego, CA 92108