Stutterers thrilled by ‘King’s’ attention

Colin Firth’s performance as the stuttering prince who ascended to England’s throne in 1936 has generated Academy Awards talk for “The King’s Speech.”

But the movie’s portrayal of King George VI’s relationship with his Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), has also generated unprecedented awareness of stuttering and the therapists who treat it.

“This movie has done in one fell swoop what we’ve been working on for 64 years,” says Jane Fraser, president of The Stuttering Foundation, founded by her father in 1947.

“It’s great,” adds Jim Tsiamtsiouris, a specialist in the treatment of stuttering and assistant professor in the department of communication disorders at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. “It’s put the spotlight front and center on speech therapy.”

The movie depicts Prince Albert’s debilitating stammer and how he overcame it to address the British people on live radio during World War II.

Speech therapists are thrilled with the accuracy of Firth’s portrayal of stuttering. Fraser says he “was so interested in getting the stutter right, and getting that feeling inside himself of that inconsolable despair that those who stutter feel.

“Nobody is promising a cure. It’s all about getting through your duties in life.”

Fraser says King George VI was the only role model her father had in the 1940s.

Malcolm Fraser, who started the auto-parts business Genuine Parts Co. with his brother in 1928, stuttered severely from an early age. In a classic avoidance strategy, he declined to become president of the business because it was “too much pressure,” his daughter says.

But Bertie, as Prince Albert was known before he became King George VI, couldn’t refuse when his older brother abdicated the throne to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson.

“He couldn’t say, ‘Let the other guy do it,’ ” says Fraser, whose foundation is based in Memphis.

About 3 million Americans – 1 percent of the population – stutter.

“In the ’40s, it was common to think stuttering was a psychological or learned behavior,” says Tsiamtsiouris. “Now, we don’t think that way.”

Scientists recently identified a genetic link for nearly 10 percent of cases.

“Early intervention is key,” Tsiamtsiouris says, “in terms of minimizing the impact stuttering may have and facilitating recovery.”

That intervention succeeded with Nick Polidoro, 5, of Bloomfield, N.J., whose kindergarten teacher told his parents his stutter has been undetectable since he started school in September.

He’s had weekly sessions with a speech therapist since he was 3, when his stammering became very noticeable, says his mother, Jody Polidoro.

“Unless you’re a parent you can’t understand. I was crying on a daily basis,” she says. “When you see your son wanting so hard to get something out, to say it and communicate it. …

“We used to have to tell people, ‘Don’t finish his sentences.’ ”

Now Nick has learned how to get himself out of the repetitive sounds of what he calls “bumpy speech,” and to smooth out his words.

“My husband and I had to make a concerted effort to talk slower, and take pauses and breathe and think about what we wanted to say before we said it,” Polidoro says.

Nick learned that speaking slowly was OK, even though people in northern New Jersey speak quickly.

People who stutter often change their lives to avoid situations that will make it obvious. They may steer clear of speaking situations entirely, or find ways not to use the sounds that are most difficult to produce – by choosing not to order f-f-fish in a restaurant, for example.

One of Tsiamtsiouris’ adult patients became a computer programmer because he thought that job would not require him to talk. Another never talks on the telephone.

Tsiamtsiouris himself was a stutterer, which led to his specialization in the field. He is one of about 1,000 speech-language pathologists nationwide who specialize in treating stutterers.

“I avoided lots and lots of situations,” Tsiamtsiouris said. “I couldn’t use the phone until I was in my 20s.”

Stuttering usually appears between ages 2 and 5, and about 5 percent of all children go through a period of stuttering that lasts six months or more. Most recover by late childhood.

“We don’t know which kids are going to become chronic, adult stutterers and which are not,” Tsiamtsiouris said.

Girls are more likely to outgrow it than boys. At age 2, 60 percent of those who stutter are boys, whereas at age 3, 75 percent of those who stutter are boys.

“One thing we know for sure, is that stuttering affects people of all classes and economic backgrounds,” said Tsiamtsiouris.

“Here is this person – King George VI – who had everything, and he stuttered.”