MEET A FUTURE SUPERSTAR: SEASON 24 CONTESTANT ON AMERICAN IDOL
JESSE FINDLING
DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU FIRST BEGAN TO STUTTER? I have always had a stutter. I remember having one ever since elementary school. It made me super shy, and I would never raise my hand in class. It was in elementary school when I first started speech therapy. Two times a week, I would go to the school speech therapist, and that was my favorite time of the day because I could speak freely. It was something I struggled with because I was scared of being perceived, and at such a young age I didn’t understand what it was or why I had it.
DOES IT RUN IN YOUR FAMILY? My brother also has a stutter. It’s something he has struggled with as well, and he also tried speech therapy. I would say his is less severe, but it’s been great being able to talk to him about stuttering. We both understand what it’s like living with a stutter and having each other to talk about it is really special.
HAVE YOU HAD ANY SPEECH THERAPY OR COUNSELING AND HAS IT HELPED? I have had speech therapy! I started going to speech therapy in elementary school. It was during school, and it really helped me. My speech therapist’s name was Judy, and she taught me a lot of techniques and showed me breathing exercises to calm myself down. Knowing I could speak freely when I was talking to her made me feel safe. As I got older, I still went to speech therapy, but not as often. There were times when my stutter was worse than normal, and when I felt like I needed help, I would tell my parents I wanted to see a speech therapist. I worked with Lee Caggiano, who was very well known in the stuttering community. She was the cofounder and director of Friends: The National Association of Young People Who
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See p. 25 for an update and advice from season 12 Idol contestant, Lazaro Arbos!
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