KIDD'S STUTTERING ACT
Congressman Addison McDowell (NC-06) is leading a bipartisan effort with Congressman Shomari C. Figures (AL-02) to help young children who stutter receive early intervention. The Kidd’s Stuttering Act will add mandatory stuttering screenings for children ages 2 to 6 and guarantee Medicaid and CHIP coverage for speech therapy services.
The Stories Behind Stuttering
Ben Lacoff
Ben Lacoff, an HPU student, has struggled with stuttering in his everyday life for as long as he can remember, but he doesn't let it define him.
Addison McDowell
Rep. Addison McDowell R-NC partnered with Rep. Shimori Figures D-GA on the Kidd Stuttering Act. Read more about the Bipartisan Legislation
Kirsten Bertschi
High Point Speech Therapist Kirsten Bertschi helps students and children overcome and manage their speech disabilities.
Kelly Harrington
Board-certified specialist in stuttering, cluttering and other fluency disorders shares the importance of early invention.
Your Stutter Doesn’t Define You
What would happen if a speech therapist told your mother that you’re “retarded"“functionally illiterate” and possibly mentally disabled?
You would probably think of yourself as a failure, hopeless and even consider quitting. But in Byron Pitts’ mind, it was a way to keep his mother proud. As a child, those words did more than describe his speech impediment; they shaped how he saw himself.
Pitts, now a National News Anchor who talks to over 100,000 viewers every week night, rememebers when he couldn't even imagine having a simple conversation with one person.
In elementary school, he remembers sitting quietly in class while other kids talked. He wasn’t speaking because of his stutter, but when the teacher asked what the boys were doing, he couldn’t get the words out.
The silence looked like guilt. The stutter looked like lying.
So he was punished and forced to write “I will not lie” on the chalkboard hundreds of times.
He wasn’t lying. He just couldn’t speak.
Moments like that shaped his childhood, but they also shaped his determination. By the age of 12, he had made a quiet but powerful decision about his future.
“My answer was, okay, I might be stupid, but I’m going to work harder. I’m going to do my best and at least put in the effort,” Pitts said.
That mindset carried him to Ohio Wesleyan University where he then started to strive to be where he is now: a “National Correspondent.”
However, that goal was still far from easy.
One of the lowest points of his career came during the Florida recount in the 2000 presidential election, one of the biggest news stories in the country. Reporting live on national television, he was handed the Supreme Court ruling while on air and asked to explain it immediately.
“I started stuttering and I just couldn’t get the words out,” Pitts said. “I think I just stopped talking.”
The moment felt embarrassing. The anchor tried to help, but the silence was too loud.
“It was probably 30 seconds, but it felt like two days,” Pitts said.
That night, alone in his hotel room, he called his mother and broke down.
“I started to cry, and we prayed the same prayer she prayed when I was younger,” he said.
The next morning, he woke up early, prayed again, and made a decision.
“I’m going to kill it today. I can’t do anything about yesterday.”
Moments like this are what defined the name and character of Byron Pitts. Stuttering can impact many on a day-to-day basis and even limit your dream goals or aspirations.
However, Byron is a prime example of what happens when you have faith and community that supports you through it all.
By Jordan Bankston
More than a Voice - Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
For those who stutter, there tends to be a memory attached to the moment they first became aware of it – in the classroom, at a birthday party, a stumbled word that drew one too many eyes.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist doesn’t have that memory. “It’s always been me,” he says.
An NBA star, a ferocious defender, a dedicated teammate. A son, a brother, a father of two. An advocate, a testimony. Kidd-Gilchrist has many fronts, but none more pronounced than the one he shoulders every day: stutterer.
***
Prior to all the fame, bright lights and roaring fans, Kidd-Gilchrist was just a boy. A boy, adrift in a sea with no sails, expected to navigate to shore with no map.
School was difficult. It had read-alouds and cold calls and classrooms full of kids who didn’t understand. Teachers who couldn’t wait, friends who laughed.
Every question came with dread; every answer came with ridicule.
“I was lonely,” he says.
Not alone, but made to feel singular in all the wrong ways.
***
On the basketball court, though, none of it seemed to matter. The game moved too fast for hesitation. Talent spoke in rebounds, defense and instinct. Communication dissolved through motion, and in motion, Kidd-Gilchrist was fluent.
“I don’t stutter on the court,” Kidd-Gilchrist said to reporters in a post-game Q&A. “ I don’t stutter when I’m playing basketball, when I pray, when I’m having some wine, or when I sing.”
Why?
“I don’t know,” he says.
What he did know is that the sport gave him something he never had: a sense of belonging.
But in the spotlight, his speech impediment dominated the headlines. The ascriptions placed on him as a kid who stuttered returned, more insistent than ever before. Disinfluencies signaled weakness. Confusion. Diminished intelligence.
Kidd-Gilchrist endured these projections without any tools to contest them, and so yet again, he stayed quiet.
***
Attending a private Catholic school, speech therapy wasn’t a resource for him. And, like many, outside help was simply too expensive without insurance coverage.
He was one of the 3.5 million Americans who sat in school and were told, by silence or circumstance, that their disability wasn’t worth addressing.
Kidd-Gilchrist was 18 years old when he first stepped foot inside a speech therapy office. 18 years of shame. Ridicule. Erasure.
“It felt like a slap in the face,” says Kidd-Gilchrist.
Early intervention for speech impediments provides kids with much more than controlled speech patterns; it provides access. Access to education, to community, to friends. Access to confidence and belonging. Access to the fullest, unencumbered version of their best self.
Not until a decade of speech therapy and enduring fatherhood did Kidd-Guilchrist begin to fully mourn the child he could have been, had he been given the resources to thrive.
***
After eight years of living his childhood dream in the NBA, Kidd-Gilchrist set his sights on a new goal: advocacy.
“I don’t want another kid to go through the things I have been through as a person who stutters,” Kidd-Gilchrist says.
So, in 2021, he founded Change and Impact, a nonprofit that provides scholarships to kids who stutter and works to educate care systems that have been failing them for generations. So far, he has visited over a hundred universities, hospitals, stuttering communities, and schools to give his story and advocate for change.
But he hasn’t stopped there. In 2023, Kidd-Gilchrist launched the Bipartisan Unified Voices Caucus on Capitol Hill. In 2024, he secured state-level laws in Kentucky and Pennsylvania expanding healthcare coverage for stuttering therapy. And today, he sits at the forefront of the Kidd's Stuttering Act — federal legislation that would help eliminate the same socioeconomic barriers to speech therapy he faced as a child.
The boy who had kept his hand down for fear of being heard is a far cry from the man who stands before Congress, refusing to be silent.
***
He still attends speech therapy, though today’s sessions mostly comprise learning to be patient with himself: the simple, radical notion of slowing down and taking space without apology.
Every scholarship, every workshop, every conversation Change and Impact facilitates is trying to prevent the same rupture: the moment a kid chooses silence over words, and decides, both privately and permanently, that their voice is not worth the risk of being misunderstood.
What he offers instead is proof. Proof, offered freely to every child who needs it, that a stuttered word doesn’t have to be the end of their sentence.
“That kid is no different than the next kid,” says Kidd-Gilchrist. He has proclaimed this sentiment from every classroom to every camera at every courtroom in Washington D.C., for it is the clearest distillation of everything he is working toward: a genuine reassertion of ordinary dignity.
“I am a proud person who stutters,” Kidd-Gilchrist says.
And after a lifetime stuck in rooms that made him feel otherwise, he means every syllable.
By Cassie Campbell
The Challenges Of Getting Bipartisan Legislation Passed
Bipartisan legislation is often overlooked, but in this case, two representatives are putting aside political differences to address an issue that goes far beyond party lines.
Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., and Rep.Shomari Figures, D-Ala., are working together on the “Kidd Stuttering Act,” a bill designed to help children who stutter receive early diagnosis and support primarily between the ages of 2 and 6. The legislation seeks to provide families, schools and healthcare providers with the tools and resources necessary to reduce the long-term impact of stuttering on a child’s life, including challenges with communication and academic performance.
The representatives are also working alongside Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a professional basketball player who has been open about his struggles with stuttering.
The effort is notable not only for its focus but for its bipartisan nature. In today’s political climate, cooperation across party lines can be rare. When asked about the difficulty of passing bipartisan legislation, McDowell acknowledged the challenges.
“It’s difficult; it’s not easy. And it’s not supposed to be,” he said. “In today’s political climate, even getting a bill to the floor for consideration is a challenge.”
Despite the obstacles, McDowell praised his colleague, highlighting the working relationship they have developed.
“He’s a great guy. I met him at orientation, he’s young, very friendly… he’s just someone that I genuinely like,” McDowell said of Figures.
Their partnership is a reminder that, even in a divided Congress, lawmakers can find common ground when the focus is on people rather than politics.
Bipartisan efforts like this one can sometimes move more smoothly through Congress than partisan initiatives, as they garner support from both sides and emphasize shared values. McDowell and Figures hope that by working together, they can not only pass the bill but also raise awareness about stuttering, which affects millions of children in the United States.
For McDowell, the legislation carries a deeply personal significance. His younger brother struggled with a stutter throughout his life, a challenge that shaped many of his early experiences. Tragically, he later died.
That personal connection has made this bill especially meaningful to him, giving him a sense of purpose and urgency as he works to ensure that children facing similar challenges receive help early.
Figures expressed enthusiasm for the bill and its potential impact, emphasizing that addressing stuttering early can help children build confidence, succeed in school and improve social interactions. Together, the lawmakers hope their bipartisan effort will serve as a model for collaboration on other issues affecting children’s health and education.
While the legislative process is often slow and difficult, the "Kidds Stuttering Act” demonstrates how common goals can unite lawmakers and bring attention to issues that affect real families in communities across the country. For McDowell, the possibility of making a big difference in children’s lives turns the challenge of passing legislation into a deeply rewarding mission.
By Jake Vesey
The Impacts Of Speech Impediments: A Therapists View
Speech impediments are a condition that affects approximately 5% of the population. These struggles are oftentimes managed through therapy and other types of counseling.
High Point Speech Therapy is located in High Point, N.C., and works with its clients year-round to help them with speech disorders. Therapist Kirsten Bertschi helps kids and young adults who have these struggles.
Bertschi said there are many different types of speech disorders. For example, a lisp distortion is “When someone does a W instead of an R,” said Bertschi.
These speech impediments can be neurological, but they are more commonly developmental.
“Developmental would be 99% of the cases that we see,” said Bertshci.
Bertschi says that many speech impediments can be overcome, but it depends on how early treatment is started. Since most of these cases are developmental, treatment is oftentimes
targeted at helping the client overcome their impediment.
“It’s not a quick fix, it takes a lot of time, and a lot of practice,” said Bertschi.
The approach to helping someone with a speech impediment can heavily depend on the client. Every client is different and has different needs, so they have to be treated in different ways.
There are clients whose confidence has been heavily impacted by their speech struggles, and there are clients who are more comfortable even with their struggles.
Speech impediments impact the client, and this is the reason why speech therapy exists. High Point Speech Therapy and other organizations work daily to help these clients get the treatment and live the life that they dream of.
By Kate Ryan
Helping The Extraordinary Who Stutter: Kelly Harrington
Most people go through life only hearing of people who stutter. On rare occasions, they see a person on social media, and even more rarely, they meet someone face to face. Kelly Harrington, a professor at UNCG, has a job that puts her in constant contact with those who stutter, and she enjoys every moment of it.
Harrington began her career as a high school English teacher before returning to earn her master’s degree at UNCG. She worked as a school speech therapist for 15 years, and that’s how she truly found her calling to help people who stutter.
“In the school, you see everything,” Harrington said. “I just gravitated to those kids who stuttered. With stuttering, there is just a life impact — their quality of life was impacted significantly. They were avoiding things; they were getting bullied a lot... They seemed like they needed a lot more counseling, which really appealed to me.”
After a while, she moved to UNCG to become a clinical professor. While there, she began helping oversee all the graduate students with the speech and hearing clinic on campus. Now, in one day, she sees people from ages three to 75, which is her favorite part of her job.
“I love that I can see a child that’s 3 and a man that’s 75 all in the same day. The reason I love it is because I can see what stuttering is like through the lifespan — what it’s like for a 70-year-old informs what I do with a three-year-old,” Harrington said. “It’s helped me see what the life impact can be.”
One of the core things Harrington believes is that people who stutter can do amazing things and that their quality of life should be just as good as that of those who don’t stutter. They should be able to tell a joke to their friends, even if they stutter on the punchline, and order whatever they want on a menu, even if it takes longer. That’s why her involvement goes beyond the classroom.
Harrington is also a leader of the National Stuttering Association chapter in Greensboro. She, along with Abby Cameron, who stutters, leads the kids' and parents’ group. They meet once a month and discuss with the kids what they’re going through regarding school and friendships. They also encourage parents and listen to the problems they’re having at home.
On top of that, Harrington herself had a son who stuttered, which gave her a new perspective on helping people who stutter.
“I had already worked with people who stutter for years and had known that you can stutter and be amazing and do anything you want,” Harrington said. “That was really eye-opening because I had been working towards helping my clients find acceptance, but then, as a parent, I want to protect you; I want to put you in a bubble, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
However, Harrington realized she needed to practice what she preached and help him understand that stuttering is OK. It also helped that she could then talk to parents who had been dealing with this for a long time and offer advice.
Throughout Harrington’s advocacy, one thing has remained true: people who stutter, no matter their age, are capable of incredible things.
By Jack Allen
Breaking The Silence: Why Early Intervention Matters
Some children learn early on that it’s easier to stay quiet than to speak. But it's not always self-constraint that’s holding them back.
For children who stutter, silence often becomes a habit, driven by fears of embarrassment and frustration.
“A lot of times, they blame themselves. Why can’t I fix this? It seems so easy for everyone else. Why is it so hard for me?” said Kelly Harrington, a board-certified specialist in stuttering, cluttering and other fluency disorders. “They can end up becoming covert, which is the word we use for people who stutter who the world might not know they stutter, but they are expending a huge amount of energy in their head to not stutter.”
These behaviors arise subtly, like hesitating to raise a hand in class or avoiding conversation in group settings, but over time, they can manifest into larger problems that extend beyond the classroom.
Stuttering typically begins between the ages of two and six, which is a crucial period for speech and language development. Researchers say identifying stuttering at a young age can help children develop the necessary communication skills before avoidant behaviors form.
Harrington stresses the importance of early intervention not only for speech development but also for confidence.
“We can't control whether a stutter's going to persist, so we can take the whole ‘cure’ idea off the table because we know that's really not how stuttering works," Harrington said. “I think the benefits of early intervention are openness, acceptance, increased self-esteem and coping mechanisms for the family and for the kid.”
That uncertainty is why Harrington approaches every client in the same way. She said research shows that about 80% of children who begin stuttering will eventually recover, especially if the onset age is early; however, that isn’t a guarantee. Depending on factors like family history and home environment, outcomes may vary.
Openness, Harrington said, plays a key role in eliminating the stigma around stuttering. When children are encouraged to ignore their speech difficulties, they often internalize it, creating feelings of shame. Having honest, open conversations allows children to better understand their experiences and normalize their emotions without dismissing them.
To illustrate this, Harrington compares stuttering to an iceberg, showing that the visible parts are only a fraction of a much larger experience.
The tip of the iceberg represents the parts that the outside world sees: blocks, repetitions, prolongation, head jerks and eye tics. Underneath the surface, there is shame, loneliness, isolation and avoidance.
“With little kids, we want to prevent the iceberg,” Harrington said. “We want to help them with acceptance, help them normalize stuttering, help them advocate, help them learn that it's ok.”
These patterns are often formed in youth and solidified in adolescence, so it's important to recognize the early signs of avoidance and offer the necessary support to combat these harmful tendencies.
Speech disruptions are what most people notice, but they only represent a small portion of the challenges faced by people who stutter.
It’s the little moments that mean the most like ordering food at a restaurant, talking on the phone or asking someone on a date. Without early intervention and proper counseling, some people may never experience these small yet meaningful milestones in adolescence.
The goal of early intervention is to help children cope with stuttering and provide them with the resources to live a life without limits, however that may look.
By Grace Krainski
Where Is The Kidd’s Stuttering Act Now?
From the court to Capitol Hill, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a former NBA basketball player, has
become a strong advocate for stuttering awareness. Now, with help from a bipartisan effort, it could be possible for young children who stutter to receive early intervention.
Congressman Addison McDowell, the U.S. representative for North Carolina's sixth congressional district, introduced the legislation with Congressman Shomari C. Figures, the representative for Alabama’s 2nd district.
The Kidd’s Stuttering Act will add mandatory stuttering screenings for children ages 2 to 6 and guarantee Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage for speech therapy services.
The legislation is crucial in supporting children who stutter by helping them receive treatment that fosters self-confidence, resilience and emotional well-being. Early assistance mitigates risks of anxiety, bullying and social isolation.
As of Dec. 2, 2025, the Kidd’s Stuttering Act is in the House of Representatives and has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
“We’ve introduced it now. The bill needs to move through the committee in jurisdiction, the Energy and Commerce Committee, they’ll have a hearing on the bill," Rune Moore, a senior legislative assistant for Congressman McDowell, said. "Then they’ll have a markup, then it’ll move to general consideration for the full House, hopefully put it on the floor and then pass the Senate, and then to the President.”
Currently, Congressman McDowell's and Congressman Figures’ teams are building relationships with other Senate offices by letting them know the bill exists and educating them about it.
“It’s hard to hate, and it’s something that I think a lot of people want to see. But it’s still a challenge,” Moore said. “It’s such a slim majority, and anybody can kind of be that tip of the scale, and that changes the conversation for being a bipartisan, easily passed bill, that’s now being negotiated just because of the broader picture in Congress at the time.”
According to GovTrack, one of the oldest government transparency and accountability websites, which tracks over 10,000 bills and resolutions introduced during each two-year session of Congress, there are roughly 5,000 to 9,000 bills annually, depending on the session's activity. So, only a small fraction, about 3% to 7%, actually becomes law.
For the future of the Kidd’s Stuttering Act, a simple conversation can mean everything.
“There’s a lot of communications. Working with staff to educate, even if you can get a few minutes through the day to talk to another staffer and just discuss the issues of the bill, is one of the more important parts of building that coalition on the bill,” Moore said.
Charles Russell, Congressman McDowell’s communications director, explained that steps are taken right at the start of the bill to help carry it through to completion.
For example, there is a one-page document that accompanies the bill to educate other members of Congress and their staff about what it actually does.
“Then, bringing the press into the fold, keeping it relevant in the news as much as possible. Anytime we’re talking about healthcare, trying to make sure that it’s in the conversation, just to be relevant and make sure that it never dies, right?" Russell said. "You just never want it to kind of go away and be put in the drawer in the back, so just making sure it’s relevant in conversation.”
Through conversations on Capitol Hill, interviews and social media platforms, Congressman McDowell’s communications team is continuously pushing out updates on the bill's progress.
If they receive new endorsements or outside groups enter the bill, they ensure the public is made aware of the legislation's importance.
“That’s what makes this bill very unique, is that we have a very cool story to tell about it. So they focus on that story, and by doing so, they’re also promoting the bill. His advocacy work tells a really strong story of how it started at the state level. Now it’s at the federal level,” Russell said. “We’re now in the hall of Congress, and we’re pushing a bill for a gentleman who literally was not able to speak on media day at SEC training. So, it’s a very long full circle story, and that’s what good storytelling is.”
Congressman McDowell and Congressman Figures’ teams are working to not only tell Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s story but also to support everyone who has gone through similar experiences and give them the opportunity to receive speech therapy early.
Next, the Kidd Stuttering Act will have to pass the House before getting its chance in the Senate.
By Payton Kiasevicz
Stuttering in the Media: Is It Better To Include It Or Not?
When thinking of Hollywood, inclusive is rarely the first word that comes to mind. For many, the film industry represents the opposite of diversity, prioritizing a polished version of humanity over reality.
Despite its veneer of glamour, Hollywood still has a significant climb ahead before it can truly be called inclusive, particularly regarding speech disabilities.
The stuttering foundation has a list of celebrities on their website who have spoken up about stuttering; however, a closer look reveals a frustrating trend that most of these figures either no longer stutter or mask their speech while performing.
Emily Blunt is a vocal and powerful advocate for the community, yet her stutter is entirely absent from her onscreen roles. While her advocacy is real, it doesn’t translate to visibility. The audience hears her talk about stuttering in interviews, but they never see the actress actually stutter on the screen.
In this way, Hollywood has effectively erased stuttering from the collective narrative. By treating it as a flaw to be edited out or overcome, the industry suggests that stuttering is invisible at best.
Media Production professor James Trammell believes it's because of the flow of movies and TV shows that makes it hard to include stuttering in characters.
“If you close your eyes and listen to a show there is always noise. The unfortunate thing is stuttering slows the pattern of speech which slows a medium that requires constant action.”
In South Park, characters like Jimmy Valmer are notable because their stutter is a part of their
identity, but not the entirety of their punchline. The comedy cartoon does not make fun of his stutter, even though the show is built around making fun of the characters and being offensive.
South Park is an outlier.
Most times when stuttering does appear in scripted media, it is used as a shorthand for specific, often negative, personality traits. In A fish called Wanda, Ken Pile is made fun of throughout the movie because of his stutter. He is comic relief and treated as less than in the movie just because of a speech impediment.
“If you don't know anyone who stutters and the only exposure that you have to someone stuttering is in the media, it would be easy to get the impression that stuttering equals someone who is cognitively slow,” Professor Trammell said.
Even when the media attempts to tackle stuttering with empathy, it often falls into the trap of a miracle when the character overcomes their speech struggle.
Movies like The King’s Speech are cinematically brilliant, but they reinforce the idea that the ultimate goal of a person who stutters is to be able to speak fluently.
“It’s unfortunate but the only way directors are including stuttering in a positive light is when the character is able to overcome the stutter, and therefore they are normal again,” Professor
Trammell said.
Audiences are conditioned to think a certain way about characters, but when those characters are made fun of for real world disabilities, that can skew audience opinions about the disability.
It comes down to the question of whether you cast a character with a stutter to be inclusive or to leave the entire character out because the exposure will be negative.
No representation is better than bad representation.
When the media relies on caricatures, it reinforces harmful real-world stigmas. For a person who stutters, seeing a character portrayed as a punchline or a symbol of cowardice is a reflection of how society expects them to behave. It creates a psychological cycle, telling the viewer that their voice is something to be hidden or fixed rather than heard.
“You’re going to have a character that stutters, but that character isn't a good representative but at least there is someone that stutters, which is the mindset that happens a lot in the media,” Professor Trammell said.
The solution isn't necessarily to make every character who stutters a hero, but to make them an ordinary character.
Amanda Elias, a Speech-Language Pathologist and Instructor at the University of Louisiana Monroe said the way to appropriately include a character who stutters is to simply make them ordinary.
“How amazing would it be to have a character stutter and their speech didn’t get the attention of the entire episode, or the movie didn’t revolve around this person’s struggles because of the stuttering,” Elias said.
Inclusion shouldn't feel like a forced awareness moment. A character that stutters should have a storyline besides the fact that they stutter, making it a subtle way to be inclusive in a positive way.
“If we want consumers of film and television to react to stuttering in a different way, the representation should reflect that,” said Elias.
It’s time for directors to realize that a story doesn’t lose its power because a character takes a moment longer to tell it. Inclusion isn’t just about giving someone a seat at the table, it’s about having the patience to listen until they’ve finished speaking.
By Katelyn Staron
Another Expert
Helping Those Who Stutter
Mandy Rodstrom Story
Hear more about Mandy Rodstrom, an advocate for students who stutter.
Waiting To Be Heard
It begins in the chest, tightens in the throat and settles in the jaw. The path from thought to word narrows, stalls… shuts down. It’s on the tip of my tongue, but just out of reach. Please, be patient; I’m almost there.
Heat creeps in — anger, embarrassment. Cheeks flush. Ah, yes, the familiar question with no response.
What is wrong with me?
My voice returns, but the moment does not. A new topic is discussed; a different speaker, introduced.
But maybe this time, I’ll keep up.
Maybe this time, they’ll wait for me.
Maybe this time, my opinion will matter.
I will matter.
***
This child is not alone.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, roughly one in 12 children has a communication disorder affecting speech, language, or voice, more commonly referred to as a ‘speech impediment’.
And yet, despite their prevalence, they remain vastly misunderstood, routinely reduced to temporary phases or dismissed as inconsequential differences, rather than as real barriers to a child’s social-emotional development, academic potential and emerging sense of self.
Denise Ballard, a speech-language pathologist and learning specialist at High Point University, believes that dismissal is as detrimental as the impediment itself.
“A lot of times, people don’t give these students the time to answer,” Ballard said. “And when that happens, it makes them not want to answer at all.”
That withdrawal carries immense consequences. Research published in the Journal of Communication Disorders asserts that children with speech impediments are significantly more likely to experience anxiety, peer exclusion and reduced classroom engagement, even when their intelligence matches or exceeds that of their peers.
In addition, children with developmental language disorders are twice as likely to develop behavioral issues, showing a strong correlation between communication issues and emotional dysregulation.
Amongst these disorders, stuttering presents a particularly complex challenge for SLPs, as it cannot be cured. Throughout life, the severity of the stutter will ebb and flow, increasing during periods of high stress.
As such, speech therapy for stutters centers less on elimination and more on management: controlled breathing, slowing the rate of speech and using what SLPs call “easy onset,” easing into difficult words instead of forcing them out.
Photo by Laura Nyhuis on Unsplash
Photo by Laura Nyhuis on Unsplash
“If you listen to yourself, you’ll notice you have verbal pauses,” said Ballard. “No one’s speech is perfect; disfluencies are natural, it’s just that some are more pronounced than others.”
This perspective reframes speech therapy entirely: its purpose is not to manufacture flawless speech, but to empower the skills to communicate with confidence.
Still, timing matters.
“Early intervention is key,” said Ballard. “As people age, the brain is much less receptive to language development.”
In childhood, neural pathways responsible for language and sound production are still forming. Articulation and fluency are flexible, responsive to repetition and reinforcement. Just as critical, social identities remain malleable; a child who receives early support is less likely to internalize their speech disinfluency as a defining flaw.
Yet for many families, speech therapy is inaccessible.
Public schools are legally required to provide speech and language services beginning at age 3, but qualification standards are rigid. Others qualify, but face lengthy waitlists for evaluation, some spanning years.
“There simply aren’t enough people to cover the amount of referrals in the public school system,” said Ballard.
Beyond school, private speech therapy can be costly. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, insurance coverage varies by state and provider, and all have limitations. Some plans cap the number of sessions; others deny coverage unless the speech impediment is linked to a medical condition. And for families without comprehensive insurance, out-of-pocket costs quickly become prohibitive.
Addressing these disparities demands structural change.
To start, schools should expand funding for speech-language pathologists to reduce evaluation backlogs and lower caseloads, allowing children to receive diagnosis and treatment earlier.
Additionally, we should adopt a preventive approach to healthcare by implementing universal language screenings in pediatric offices and pre-K programs for children under age 3.
And finally, we need insurance reform that recognizes speech therapy as essential developmental care to lift the financial burden off of young families.
“You are not going to die if you don’t get speech therapy,” Ballard said. “But communication affects your ability to speak up, and that… that affects everything.”
By Cassie Campbell
Two Minutes. Two Minutes During A Routine Well-Visit Could Change The Trajectory Of Millions Of Lives.
That’s the premise behind the Kidd’s Stuttering Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Addison McDowell (NC-06) and Rep. Shomari Figures (AL-02) that requires speech screenings for all kids aged 2-6, backed by guaranteed speech therapy coverage under government assistance programs.
“We know that early intervention can make all the difference in a child’s speech development, their confidence and overall well-being,” said Figures. “This legislation is an important step in providing families with the support and medical coverage they need and deserve.”
Stuttering is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects an estimated three million Americans. The severity varies from person to person, but left untreated, its consequences compound.
Research shows that children who stutter are more likely to be bullied, disengage academically and develop lifelong mood disorders. In addition, a 2018 study in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology found that adults who stutter are more than four times less likely than their peers to earn a six-figure salary.
Studies also show that the long-term consequences of stuttering can be significantly mitigated with early diagnosis and access to speech therapy. In fact, many prominent people have a speech impediment: Joe Biden, our former president; Byron Pitts, the co-anchor of ABC News; and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, a former NBA player after whom the act was named. But their success is not just a testament to their perseverance; they had help. They had resources. They had early intervention.
Access that currently remains out of reach for thousands of children in America.
According to the Journal of the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, only 22% of speech-language pathology clinics accept patients with a Medicaid-type insurance. For families who rely on public coverage, that means long waitlists, limited providers and improper care.
The Kidds Stuttering Act seeks to fill that gap at its earliest point of entry. By embedding these screenings into annual doctor visits, the bill ensures that early identification does not rely on chance—a concerned parent, a perceptive teacher or a late referral—it becomes standard practice.
From there, the legislation eliminates common barriers to treatment, mandating that public insurance programs, such as Medicaid and CHIP, provide full coverage for speech therapy services. It also establishes a baseline for treatment, preventing states from offering fewer stuttering sessions than for other related speech impediments.
Critics of the bill argue the expansion could strain already limited Medicaid systems, raising concerns over long-term costs and provider capacity.
For McDowell, the stakes are personal. His paternal grandfather and late brother both suffered from lifelong speech impediments, a reality that drives his urgency for change.
“The most powerful thing you have is your voice,” said McDowell. “And I want to help people use it.”
In a Congress gridlocked by partisan battles and razor-thin margins, the Kidds Stuttering Act should pass without dissent. “It’s low-cost and common sense,” said McDowell. Yet even consensus requires momentum, so garnering interest and assembling a coalition to reach the Senate floor is the next step for McDowell and Figures.
The science is settled; the need is documented. What remains now is the wait—but for the nervous, bullied child sitting alone at lunch: time is the one thing that can’t be given back.
By Cassie Campbell
All Children Are Exceptional
Have you ever had trouble getting a word out? Or maybe even finishing a sentence?
Now, imagine this was your reality in every conversation and every interaction you have. The
constant worry that you’ll never fully get your point across, or that you’ll scare people away.
This is reality for roughly three million Americans.
They know exactly what they would like to say but have trouble producing a normal flow of
speech. Stuttering is not just someone struggling to speak, it is both an internal and emotional
struggle as well.
Stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by the repetition of sounds, syllables or words,
prolongation of sounds and interruptions in speech known as blocks. It occurs most often in
children between the ages of 2 and 6 as they are developing their language skills.
According to a study conducted by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication
Disorders, “Approximately 75% of children recover from stuttering. For the remaining 25% who
continue to stutter, stuttering can persist as a lifelong communication disorder.”
Connie Williams, the Lead School Support-Related Services for the Guilford County Schools’
Exceptional Children Services, has been a part of the collaborative team advocating for students
with disabilities. Exceptional Children Services, also known as special education, is designed to
serve and support students through providing personalized instruction in a minimally restrictive
environment.
“North Carolina has 14 areas of eligibility for exceptional children, and of course, one of those
areas is speech. I think technically it's called speech language impaired. It is considered the
second or third most common area of eligibility, kind of falling right behind autism and specific learning disorders, so there are a significant number of students who fall in that criterion of speech language impaired,” Williams said.
In the Guilford County school district, there are about 147 speech therapists working in the
schools, offering speech and language services, including support for stuttering, primarily
through the Exceptional Children program.
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Often, teachers will be the first to notice any disruptions in speech.
“It could possibly come from a parent also, but more than likely it will come from a teacher who might notice that the student is having some trouble expressing themselves and some dysfluencies,” Williams said. “So, they will usually consult with their school therapist and say ‘Hey, could you maybe do a quick observation in my classroom and while you're there let me know if you think the stuttering rises to the level of perhaps needing a referral?’”
Once a therapist has evaluated the student in the classroom setting, they could either find the
speech disruption is very mild and doesn’t appear to be causing any negative impact on the child,
or they’ll find that further evaluation may be needed.
Williams is a part of this process. The therapist would then reach out to the parent, express any
concerns and explain what they have noticed. This is the start to ensuring that no child goes
unnoticed.
“So, once we move to a full evaluation, then that's going to involve several different components because you not only want to look at a formal assessment, but you want to take some informal measures like again observing the child in different environments,” Williams said. “How the child is doing at recess, are you noticing more stuttering, less stuttering, no stuttering? How about when the child is at lunch or how about when the child is in the classroom and they're called upon to answer a question.”
Sometimes when the child is comfortable, such as at recess while playing with friends, they may not stutter, but in a more serious, focused environment, pressure can cause more speech blocks.
These observations can start as early as preschool. Guilford County offers services for children as young as three years old, all the way up until 12th grade.
“You'd also get additional information from the parent. What are you seeing at home? Does the
child appear to be distressed about the dysfluency, or sometimes young kids barely even notice it. They think it's just their normal communication,” Williams said. “So, then we take all of that information and then make a determination of whether this is truly a stuttering disorder or fluency disorder, and then the therapist would ask is it having a negative impact on them academically.”
Observing children in their natural environment provides the best objective notes about their developmental stages. For some, the dysfluency doesn’t stop them from socializing or interacting, so it isn’t negatively affecting them.
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Often, kids can be too focused on what they're saying, not how, so they simply aren't bothered by it.
For others, they may notice it and their feelings become a fundamental part of their stuttering, and by so doing, stuttering becomes part of them. With this, stuttering can be a very personal and private matter.
“Other kids are distressed. You know, it's impacting their self-esteem and their self-confidence,” Williams said. “So, we would look at that, and then determine, lastly, do they need our specialized intervention?”
Next, an individualized education program, known as an IEP, will be developed for the student.
When services begin to be provided, they can involve taking the student out of the classroom for a period of time so that the therapist has enough time to teach them strategies. It depends on the student, but speech therapy could be in a group with other kids who stutter, or it could be one-on-one.
“You want to start teaching awareness and strategies and also just kind of build that confidence that even if you stutter, it’s okay,” Williams said. “You just want to be a confident communicator, like we don't really want to pathologize it to the child, we want them to see that yeah there's some strategies, but when that bumpy speech happens, it doesn't mean you're not a good communicator.”
Stuttering can significantly impact life by causing social anxiety and low self-esteem, leading to avoidance of situations and isolation. Not only can it affect relationships, but also education or even simple tasks like introducing oneself and ordering food.
Speech therapy helps develop fluency, but also provides coping strategies for managing
emotional challenges.
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In the Guilford County school system, they are using an approach called a modification of the
stutter, such as telling kids to use their “stretchy” speech. When they hit bumps in their speech, they learn how to hold and stretch out words, or easy onsets, where they learn to be gentle with starting certain sounds and easing into the words. Visuals aids are sometimes used as well.
“We're not trying to stop it, and it may never completely go away, and that's okay, but just letting the child know in that moment of stuttering: here's some things you can do. You know, slide into it, easy onset and stretch it out just a little bit,” Williams said.
Oftentimes, there are secondary characteristics too. Some children may blink their eye or stomp their foot when they experience disruptions in speech, as a way to help get through that block.
“Sometimes that's just considered part of it, so we just talk through that, like okay how are you
feeling in this moment of stutter?" Williams said. "Is it making you feel a little bit anxious and things like that? So, you kind of have to address it emotionally as well as physically to kind of help modify that
stuttering.”
Helping students with stuttering is a truly multi-facetted process. Not only is it about giving them tips and tricks for the physical speech impairment, but also how to deal with stress and emotional strain.
A study from Minnesota State University shows that 35% of school-aged kids report they have
been teased or bullied at some time. With children that stutter, that statistic rises to 82%.
Stuttering can be a devastating problem for a young child or teen, which can make meeting friends and socializing even more awkward or painful.
“It helps if you have the cooperation of the classroom teacher too, because really kids have to learn to be accepting of differences, and so that really begins, of course, at home and in the classroom where the teacher helps them to see: hey, we’re all unique and we all have some things that are hard for us and some things that are easy for us,” Williams said. “We don't take that as an opportunity to tease or bully others, so hopefully that message is there.”
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In the Guilford County school district, children are being taught to accept their stutter, and to
communicate freely in spite of it. That is how they learn to handle their disfluencies.
By having an attitude of acceptance and focusing on the child's skills and potential for functioning and developing socially, children will then focus more on their dreams and talents, not just their stuttering.
The Exceptional Children Services’ goal with communication differences, or any other
differences in children, is to get people to see that every human is unique, deserving of respect and kind treatment always.
“I think if we can just get that across then it would eliminate the bullying and the teasing and kids feeling left out or isolated or abandoned. And that’s for any area, whether they maybe have autism or have a learning difference, it's all part of the spectrum of human differences and we all just have to learn to respect and really value those differences,” Williams said.
By Payton Kiasevicz
A Small Screening with a Big Impact
A bipartisan bill by Rep. Addison McDowell R-NC focused on early intervention for stuttering
For people who stutter, speaking is only a fraction of the challenge. The effects often reach beyond speech, shaping their confidence and everyday interactions.
Lawmakers in Washington are now trying to address that reality through a bill, which will expand screening for stuttering in young children and connect families with speech resources earlier in life.
“There shouldn’t be a ton of opposition,” said Rep. Addison McDowell R-NC. “Any cost associated with it should be very low — it should be common sense.”
The proposed legislation would primarily affect children covered through government healthcare programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Those programs already provide coverage for millions of children across the country, and McDowell says federal health agencies would likely monitor the program’s outcomes.
The screening process itself is simple, taking only a few minutes to administer, but the results could last a lifetime.
“Think about the impact you can make on a young person,” McDowell said. “You have the ability to impact the next 80 years of a person’s life through two minutes.”
If the legislation works as intended, McDowell says its success may only become clear decades later. The goal is for children to receive support early enough that speech challenges never become a defining part of their lives.
Rather than drawing attention to the problem once it has already fully manifested, the bill is designed to address stuttering early, allowing children to develop confidence and communication skills as they grow. It should quietly improve lives over time.
The effort was introduced as a bipartisan proposal, something McDowell said is especially important given the current political landscape. With a narrow majority in the House and Senate, cooperation across party lines is oftentimes necessary in order for a bill to advance.
"I think the fortunate part is that it's a bipartisan bill, it's hard to hate and it's something that I think a lot of people would like to see move," said McDowell's senior legislative assistant, Rune Moore. "But it's still a challenge. With a slim majority, anyone can be that tip on the scale."
The bill just has to pass those hurdles.
According to McDowell, the legislation ultimately focuses on giving children the confidence to use their voice and participate fully in everyday life.
“The goal of it, I think, is that you don’t want to know that someone had a stuttering issue because we fixed it when they were two years old,” McDowell said. “Those are the people that can become anything that they want to be, but until they believe that, we need to continue to offer them every bit of help that we can.”
Even if the long-term impact is difficult to measure, he says the possibility of improving someone’s future decades down the line is reason enough to pursue it.
“Thirty to 50 years from now — who knows what this bill will have done,” McDowell said. “And that's cool to think about.”
In the end, the hope is that children who stutter grow up knowing their voice is something worth using, not something to fear.
McDowell’s bill offers the opportunity to change that trajectory early and open doors that might otherwise remain closed.
By Grace Krainski
Overcoming Stuttering From Childhood Into Adulthood
Growing up with a stutter can impact confidence and the ability to communicate properly with others. Signs of a stutter typically appear in childhood, and most children overcome their stutter, but about 25% of stutters persist into adulthood.
Early therapy and emotional support can help children around the world become more confident in themselves and help them overcome their stutter. Karen Daly is an administrative assistant who grew up with a stutter.
Over the years, Daly has overcome her stutter through therapy and learning more about how her stutter works. She has had family support throughout the years, and has learned a lot about herself this way.
Growing up, Daly had struggles as a kid with other students, and also the struggle to understand why she stuttered.
“If there was something someone was looking to tease me about that was an easy target,” said Daly.
Throughout the years, Daly learned that a lot of her family members also had stuttering issues. Since her family experienced the same thing, it became easier for Daly to learn and grow from her speech disability.
Depending on the situation growing up, and comfort level, it impacted how much Daly had to say growing up.
“I still sometimes, if there's a crowded room, will be like hmm, I’m just gonna keep to myself,” said Daly.
She feels as though if she isn’t confident in her speech, her stutter will become more apparent. It also appears at random points in time, and she will have trouble saying a word one time and then no problem at all.
Social anxiety and stress can lead to a greater chance of a stutter appearing. Daly’s father also has a stutter, so with his help, Daly was able to do better with her words.
“We feel like it's something hereditary,” said Daly.
Oftentimes, people who stutter struggle with direct answers; they will warm up to the answer by repeating the question. This helps reduce the chance of stumbling on words.
“Because a lot of people stutter in the beginning of getting the word out,” said Daly.
If Daly is struggling with a question, she will repeat it or say let me think about it for a minute. Overtime Daly learned how to answer things and adjust her speaking to avoid the stutter.
Learning more vocabulary growing up played a huge role in her overcoming and growing from her stutter. There are so many kids worldwide who, just like Daly, have grown up afraid to speak out of fear of stumbling on words, which is caused by stuttering.
“Everyone who has a stutter its different for everyone, I feel like you have to learn the right way to speak,” said Daly.
In the younger elementary years, Daly felt like she had school support, but as she grew up, that started to fade. In elementary school, she would be pulled from class to go to speech therapy.
The Kidd's Stuttering Act allows for screening to be shown in children, to help catch stutters early on. Daly thinks this could be a helpful step forward, as long as it is provided for all kids, even if they aren’t financially in a good place.
Daly also encourages that students aren’t pulled out of class on a loudspeaker, as this could cause harm to students socially and mentally. This act is still currently in committee action and will be voted on at some point in the future. Daly’s experience illustrates the potential impact of early intervention and family support for children who stutter.
Extra help makes all the difference
One of the worst situations as a young kid in fourth grade: having to be the one pulled out of class.
Everyone assumes you are on your way to get extra help or you’re in trouble. While I wasn’t heading to build my reading comprehension skills or to the principal’s office, I was going to get a different kind of extra help.
There was a period of time throughout elementary and intermediate school when I was the one pulled out of class. I just had to make it through the door without turning my head, so I didn’t have to make eye contact with the eyes burning holes through my back. Next, make my way down the dark stairwell and slip into the room that was tucked beside the crowded lunch room.
It was a small room with a tan square table at the center surrounded by diagrams and posters that pasted each wall.
Now, about 13 years later, I can still vividly remember the sweet, smiling lady sitting across from me flipping through flashcards and demonstrating correct speech for me to mimic.
At the young age of eight, having to spend multiple hours a week outside of the classroom on top of my very rigorous coursework, was just about the end of the world. But it was the effort and care that people gave me during those formative years that helped me build the confidence and skills that have brought me into my adult years.
That time and embarrassment of being told to go down to the extra help room is one that I am incredibly grateful for now because anytime I tell someone that I stutter they don’t believe me.
I have struggled with a stutter for most of my life. What was once one of my biggest insecurities has turned into something that only rises during moments of stress or anxiety.
My parents and teachers took actions to have me evaluated and it was decided that I needed speech therapy. I started immediately in fourth grade and continued until eighth grade. If it wasn’t for that early intervention, I would not be where I am today.
While I had a difficult time completing sentences and saying certain words, I also needed special help with articulation and fluency. I spent years learning to control my stuttering through repeating vowel sounds, breathing exercises and slowing the rate of my speech.
Even though sometimes I still find myself struggling to get through a sentence smoothly, I am able to rely on the comfort of the techniques and skills that I learned to get me back on track.
My stutter will most likely never go away completely. I am okay with it, and it is a part of me. One that I now embrace, and I don’t let hold me back from any conversation.
For some, stuttering does substantially limit major life activities because of restricted communication and speaking.
Stuttering is considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But not all stuttering is legally defined as a disability. It often requires the impairment to be significant, which is evaluated on an individual basis.
With this, early intervention and focused, intentional attention are crucial to supporting children who stutter in ensuring they are being given the help and skills they deserve. Without the adults who took the time to say something and connect me with a speech therapist, my eight-year-old self would have continued to fall victim to negative feelings toward speaking.
The time spent in that small space near the lunch room gave me the confidence and foundation I needed to be the communicator that I am now at 21 years old.
Every child who has signs of stuttering should be treated with the same care, kindness and support as they get extra help, so they too can appreciate every part of themselves.
By Payton Kiasevicz
The Pressure To Speak Perfectly
Hiding a stutter doesn’t make it go away; it just makes it harder to manage. In fact, the pressure to speak fluently can actually intensify the struggle, resulting in an array of issues like avoidance, isolation and worsened self-image.
“The more I tried to speak perfectly, the more imperfect I spoke,” said Ben Goldstein, describing his experience growing up with a stutter that he so desperately tried to hide.
The constant stress to sound “right” didn’t just affect what he said — it changed whether he spoke at all.
Goldstein remembers stuttering for the first time in first grade. Afterwards, he thought to himself, “‘I don’t like the way that sounds. I’m going to hide that.’”
The instinct to hide his stutter didn’t make speaking any easier. Instead, it marked the start of a pattern that would follow him for years to come.
As Goldstein became more aware of how his speech sounded to others, he began to anticipate moments of disfluency before they even happened, sometimes even avoiding speech altogether. Everyday interactions like participating in class and pronouncing his name made him overthink and second guess himself.
Over time, those small moments began to add up.
“I started noticing how often I avoided — how many times I had a joke to say but didn’t say it, how many times I had a joke to say but didn’t say it, how many times I wanted to contribute something to a conversation but didn’t.”
It wasn’t until someone else stepped in that this habit finally broke. Goldstein recalls his aunt suggesting he try speech therapy, which was the first step in acceptance.
After semesters of working with professionals, he started to see real results, but that came with the inevitable uncomfortable moments of putting those skills into practice. Applying what he learned meant speaking in situations he spent years avoiding, without the safety of rehearsing or replacing words.
But Goldstein’s hard work eventually paid off.
He still struggles sometimes, but his stutter no longer defines or constrains him. That shift didn’t come from “curing” his stutter; it came from letting go of the need to control it.
Goldstein is not alone in these feelings, either. Many people who stutter experience similar patterns of avoidance and pressure.
Progress isn’t determined by perfect speech. It’s measured by a person’s willingness to speak despite imperfection.
By Grace Krainski
Making A Difference: The Power Of Congress Advocating For
Speech Disabilities
Passing a bill through Congress can be a challenge due to the numerous steps involved. U.S. Rep. Addison McDowell is leading the effort to pass a bill that helps children with speech disabilities receive the necessary support early.
These steps will help children receive the proper support they need to be successful in life. Most speech disabilities that are caught early enough can be cured with proper treatment and speech therapy.
McDowell has been taking the necessary steps to pass this bill. The hardest part about passing a bill is getting it to the step of being on the floor.
“I don’t control that; that’s controlled by the majority leader of the House,” said McDowell.
To help bring this bill to the floor, McDowell has been working behind the scenes to gain public support, demonstrating that the community wants this bill to become law. This support can help move legislation and push the bill through the process.
This bill is likely to be passed without a roll-call vote and will likely be put on suspension. Suspension is when a bill is passed by unanimous consent.
“On this bill, there shouldn’t be a ton of opposition, and the cost association should be very low,” said McDowell.
This bill could impact the next 80 years of someone’s life. Young children could improve their communication skills with the help of McDowell.
There is a test that can diagnose a child’s speech disability, which can then lead to proper support and care. McDowell and his team have been working toward this advocacy.
McDowell would have oversight of Human and Health Services, which would be the agency working with these children daily. The overall goal would be to cure speech disabilities as early as age two. This agency would collect data on how many children experience these struggles and how to change that.
“Seeing how many children did you identify this in, show me the numerical impact of it,” said McDowell.
There are children around the world who have speech disabilities, and this advocacy would not only change their lives but also bring awareness to the impact of speech impediments.
By Kate Ryan
Figures and McDowell: Teaming up for a Greater Cause
Modern American politics is more divided than ever before. From breaking news that results in knee-jerk reactions from one party or the other, to refusing to have discussions with the other side. It’s hard for people to see the perspective on the other side’s perspective, let alone begin to agree on anything.
U.S. Rep Addison McDowell R-NC joined U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures D-AL in a bipartisan effort. Their goal: helping kids who stutter.
The Kid’s Stuttering Act’s (named after Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) main goal is to help children receive early intervention to assist with stuttering. It will involve mandatory stuttering screenings for children 2 to 6 years old. In addition, it will also guarantee Medicaid for speech-therapy services.
McDowell and Figures hope that an issue like this helps provide unity in an era of division. McDowell thinks that this will be a unanimous and easy vote. However, due to how our government works, it can still be difficult for things to pass.
“It’s not easy and it’s not supposed to be. Our founders, when they were starting this country, they didn’t want it to be easy to do things,” McDowell said. “They wanted there to be… a swimming upstream situation because you don’t want the big changes of power. You don’t want the pendulum to swing too far, one way or the other.”
But with but McDowell and Figures working together, the bill becomes a lot more plausible. Figures is someone McDowell has wanted to work with as he’s younger and sits on both sides of the house floor.
“If there’s a bill that I want to get done and I want it to be bipartisan, I’m going to find someone that I think has got some juice that can help carry it on that of the aisle,” McDowell said. “Because that’s what you need. You need somebody that has the relationships on the other side that can work those folks while I work my side”
Figures was totally in and working together they can make the bill move through congress a lot quicker especially when you need 60 votes to pass anything. Now that they’re united, the next steps involve raising awareness and gaining public opinion.
Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is one of those people. He had a stutter since he was young and founded Change and Impact to help pass legislation and advocate for kids who stutter. His partnership with McDowell and Figures will be beneficial especially for people who have not heard about the bill.
The bipartisan effort of McDowell and Figures is unprecedented in our political climate. However, with an issue so unifying as this, there’s a reason for optimism. The results will make sure children (like Gilchrist once was) can have the support and resources they need to live life fully with no fear.
By Jack Allen
We All Have a Story — Some of Us Need Help Telling It
Inspiration doesn’t always announce itself. It can be quiet and fleeting, or it can emerge from life’s toughest lessons. For Rep. Addison McDowell R-NC, it came from a defining moment that pushed him beyond reflection and into action.
As he sits in his office surrounded by mementos from his home state, he describes his reasoning for passing a bill to help children who stutter. His eyes drift around the room, looking for something to focus on while talking about his story.
McDowell is partnering with Rep. Shomari C. Figures D-AL to pass a bipartisan effort to expand early stuttering screenings and therapy for young children.
But why stuttering?
“Stuttering is hereditary in my family. My paternal grandfather actually had a stutter. I never picked up on that,” said McDowell when asked about his personal connection to the bill.
In 2016, McDowell’s younger brother suddenly passed away due to fentanyl poisoning. His brother happened to have a stutter his entire life.
McDowell was raised with a strong sense of family and tradition — values that shaped his desire to give back. Now, he sees this moment as an opportunity to honor his brother and turn those values into action that benefits others.
After his brother passed, McDowell made it his top priority to tackle the drug crisis in the U.S. He would do this by strengthening the borders to protect families from the drugs that are smuggled into the country every day.
He had to fight for his brother who could no longer fight for himself.
Tackling the opioid crisis is not the only way McDowell can honor his brother. His stuttering bill is a tribute to his stuttering brother and grandfather who never got help to try and overcome it.
“The goal of this is to not know that someone had a stuttering issue because we fixed it when they were 2 years old,” said McDowell.
The bill would introduce early diagnosis screening and speech therapy services to kids aged 2 to 6 all guaranteed to be covered under Medicaid and CHIP.
“We are currently in the process of building relationships with offices, kind of educating and letting people know about the existence of this,” said Rune Moore, senior legislative assistant to Congressman McDowell.
McDowell is continuing to represent not only people who have a stutter, but his family and their ideologies that family sticks together.
“We want these people to use their voice because it's the most powerful thing you have and I don't think the government should be a barrier for someone being able to do that,” McDowell said.
He describes his personal connection as a selfish motivation, but those who stand to benefit from the bill would likely see it very differently.
By Katelyn Staron
Authors
Grace Krainski
Senior Journalism student at High Point University.
Kate Ryan
Senior Journalism student at High Point University.
Katelyn Staron
Senior Journalism student at High Point University.
Payton Kiasevicz
Senior Journalism student at High Point University.
Jake Vesey
Junior Journalism Student at High Point University
Jordan Bankston
Junior Journalism student at High Point University.
Cassie Campbell
Senior Journalism student at High Point University.
Jack Allen
Senior Journalism student at High Point University.
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