Michael Turner says the inspiration for making a movie about stuttering came to him in 2009. Turner says he was on a trip with a friend who asked him what it was like to stutter.
Turner says he had never been asked or talked about it, and ended up having a long conversation about stuttering. He made the film the Way We Talk. It will be screened at Kalamazoo Valley Community College on Thursday September 29th at an event hosted by the Western Michigan University chapter of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association. Turner will also be one of the speakers at the annual Van Riper Lecture Series on Friday.
Western Michigan University Professor of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Stephen Tasko says we don’t know much about why people stutter. He says we do know it tends to run in families. Tasko says stuttering begins early in life. He says research shows that there are differences in brain imaging. Tasko says about four in five people recover without any assistance or help. But he says the longer you’ve been stuttering the less likely you are to recover.
Turner says stuttering runs in his family. His mom, grandpa and brother all stutter as well. But Turner says some people he knows who stutter have no family history. His film shows therapists and kids working to overcome stuttering. Turner says he was in therapy from childhood until age 15 or 16, and still stutters. He says it wasn’t a very positive experience.
The movie screening will help raise money for Camp Shout Out, a summer residential program on Big Blue Lake in Muskegon. Tasko says all the kids, between ages 8 and 16, at the camp stutter. He says it’s a chance for them to be with other kids who stutter. Tasko says they do traditional summer camp activities, and work with therapists on stuttering.
Turner says there some days he’s “cool” with stuttering, and some days it can be frustrating or inconvenient. Turner says becoming a father was an impetus for film. The film maker who lives in Oregon says he will need to be open with his daughter. He also was inspired by meeting kids with a stutter while making the film.
