May 17th, 2018

Post date: May 18, 2018

The Maine Chapter of National Stuttering Association met last night at Dysart's.  For me [Marybeth], back from my "western trip", it was a nice welcome home to the NSA... we had a nice group of 5, including a new member!  Attending were Natalie, Mike and Jane (also home from their sojourn in Florida), myself, and we welcomed Maurvin Patel to our group.

We went around the table and shared a bit of our stories for Maurvin, which of course took awhile; but it's always good to do that.  Both Natalie and I had listened to a recent  Stuttertalk podcast about talking in public under time pressure guidelines; both how that feels and strategies that Peter R. used (from the podcast) and whether or not there should be accommodations , in the way of increased time or other accommodations, made for PWS and others with difficulties that may warrant them.   We came to the consensus of "no", because, as Mike pointed out, it's a very slippery slope and where do you draw the line with people, their specific needs, and various complaints?  Mike has years of experience in town administration and certainly understood that.  That said, we shared experiences where, in fact, some of us had received different types of accommodations (me in French class and Natalie in an undergrad class) and it certainly did help us pass the course!!