To all students starting a new school year: Frame the conversation about your speech

To all students starting a new school year: Frame the conversation about your speech I know many of you are dreading the start of the new year. Teachers will expect you to say things in class. Many of them will begin the year by asking you to say something about yourself. It's not fun dealing with snickers from the class when you're talking. I've been there. I've had a moderate-to-server stutter all my life. However, I'm also starting my 15th year of teaching high school, so I have more experience in being a stutterer amongst teenagers. **I can also confidently say that in teaching over 1500 students over the years, my speech has not been a significant issue.** I believe this is because of how I open the year. The first things I tell every class at the beginning of the year are: 1. My name. 2. I stutter. I then take time explaining my speech to my students, with a focus on how they should react when I get stuck (ie. just wait). By "helping" my classes understand how to react to my speech, I diffuse all of their nervousness about it. It also takes away ammunition from those couple students looking to press my buttons. There are a few giggles at first. I bravely press on, and everyone adjusts after a few days. Like everything with stuttering, your mileage may vary. Give it a try though. **TL;DR. I'm a stuttering high school teacher. I tell students how to react to my stutter, and it isn't a problem all year.**