The fourth-grade boys file one by one into the classroom, wide eyes taking in the colorful posters on the walls. Shyly, they find their seats, put their brand- new backpacks on the floor and look up at the rebbi. Nervous himself, the young rebbi goes up and down the rows, asking cach boy to introduce himself.

One at a time, each one stands up and says his name. "Moishy Friedman." "Yossi Cohen." "Akiva Stein," As the rebbi greets each boy, the tension in the room eases and small smiles peek out on the boys' faces. But then the rebbi reaches the last boy in the third row. He stands up slowly, panic evident on his face, and says nothing. The rebbi gently asks the boy his name, but the boy is still silent. His eyes dart frantically around the room, face growing red. Finally, he ekes out, "Y ... y ... y ... " and then stops, Quiet giggling erupts among some of the boys and the boy quickly sits down, wishing for the mil- lionth time that words could flow smoothly off his tongue like they did for everyone else.

Yanky Kaufman shares his stuttering journey and how he helps stutterers today

 

A Colossal Challenge

Speech plays such a central role in a human being's life that a person is described as a medaber, one who speaks. If one struggles with that basic function, life can be a huge challenge. Most kids go back to school excited for a new year, but if expressing oneself is a daunting task, then school can become dreaded instead of anticipated. Yanky Kaufman, a renowned stuttering expert, vividly describes the challenges implicit in having a speech impediment. "Stutterers will often try to find words that are easier for them to say that express the same idea. That can make a boy with great social skills and an eloquent vocabulary sound very awk-strange." Yanky continues, "Stutterers will also often avoid social scenes where they are concerned they might stutter. They might not pick up the phone or introduce themselves to new people, since their name is a typical stumbling block." He adds that along with these challenges comes the crippling fear of stuttering—even when it doesn't happen.