The following excerpt from a letter sent to the Hollins Communications Research Institute (HCRI – www.stuttering.org ) illustrates how HCRI’s behavioral stuttering therapy can impact an individual’s life.

Dear Dr. Webster,

…In 1970, our son, Bill, came to your stuttering therapy program. He was just nine years old and you were hesitant to accept him. After a long interview and careful scrutiny, you decided to take a chance with him. We have never been so grateful.

Bill is now 50 years old, a father of five, grandfather of two, and a trial lawyer in Wilmington, Delaware. He graduated form Princeton University and the University of Virginia Law School.

After studying Russian in Russia, he met and married a Finnish girl so he now speaks fluent Finnish, as do their five chidren.

Bill hardly ever stutters. Every once in a while he may trip at the beginning of a word, but no one notices it because we all do that from time to time. His speech is perfectly fluent and we have you and your therapy program to thank for that.

Very sincerely,

Anne Denny

About HCRI

Ronald L. Webster, Ph.D. founded Hollins Communications Research Institute in 1972 to investigate stuttering through scientific discovery and treatment innovation. Under Dr. Webster’s direction, Roanoke, Virginia-based HCRI, a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization, has become an international leader in stuttering research and the development of innovative, scientifically based therapy approaches.

The Institute offers 17 stuttering therapy programs annually, each of which lasts 12 days, where participants work with specially trained clinicians and learn how to retrain speech muscles to produce fluent speech for a lifetime.

HCRI clinicians have treated nearly 6,000 people, aged 9 to 73, from across the U.S. and 47 other countries. Clients include broadcaster John Stossel of Fox News; Annie Glenn, wife of Senator and Astronaut John Glenn; as well as athletes, teachers, engineers, students, doctors, military personnel, business professionals, police officers, actors, paramedics, and other individuals from all walks of life.

For more information, contact HCRI at 540-265-5650 or admin@stuttering.org .