So if you want to characterize stuttering correctly here's a list of things to note about stuttering. 1) Right now I only see speech sound repetitions. However, there are other types of disfluencies. - prolongations (prooooooolongations) - silent prolongations (si ....... lent prolongations) - syllable repetitions (syl-syl-syllable repetitions) - whole word repetitions (whole, whole whole word repetitions) - phrase repetitions (phrase repetitions, phrase repetitions, phrase repetitions) - interjections (um, like, you know, interjections) The first three are more characteristic of how people who stutter stutter, however, what most normally fluent people regard as stuttering are the speech sound repetitions. So, take that as you will. If you're goal is to educate people I would definitely include other types of disfluencies. 2) a big part of stuttering is cognitive. Not in an intelligence way but in an emotional way. Many people who stutter experience self-doubt, frustration, poor self-confidence associated with speaking. They are more likely to regard themselves as "bad communicators" compared to people who do not stutter. Given that the story is not told from Julio's perspective this could be difficult to concisely convey in a way that is authentic. Especially considering that people who are talking with stutterers are largely unaware of the mental roller coaster going on in their conversation partner's head. 3) One thing that I think would be really cool would be to have Julio evolve through the course of the book. For example, when we first meet Julio he believes that he is a bad communicator because he stutters. But through the course of the book he transitions to believing he can be a good communicator despite stuttering. (but he should still stutter, stuttering should not go away). It's hard to reduce the intricacies of stutter to a singular post. If you have specific questions I'm happy to respond (I'm a stuttering speech therapist that researches stuttering). Feel free to PM if you wish. Other notes: - You probably should not describe Julio's speech therapist as a doctor. (1) Speech Pathology is not a medical degree. (2) Doctor is a title (not a profession) conferred after obtaining an academic degree, and the minimum requirements to work as an SLP in the US and Canada is a masters degree (in other places like Europe and Austrailia it's just a bachelors degree). So SLPs are still Ms./Mrs./Mr. - I'm confused by this line, "Despite his trouble talking, Monty saw absolutely nothing wrong with Julio. After all, Monty knew that Julio was absolutely no different than him" There are differences between them. But these differences are not meaningful. That's the point of the story, right? Differences don't matter. So, there should be acknowledged differences between the characters. but those differences shouldn't inform on the character's character or humanity. Also, I'd just drop the "despite his trouble talking." It can come off as superior. Switch "trouble talking" with "being gay" or "being caucasian" or "being an illegal alien" to get a sense of what I mean. They don't matter--there's nothing about these features Monty needs to disregard in order to like Julio.