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I was really interested by the article in the New York Times ("To Fight Stuttering, Doctors Look at the Brain"), which basically said that the brains of people who stutter work almost entirely differently than those of people who do not stutter. The discovery that stuttering is actually somewhat caused by the brain is revolutionary, not only because it has the possibility to disprove the current belief that stuttering is caused by someone who is suffering from a nervous disorder, but also because it will vastly improve the lives of a myriad of people.

Over the years, I have known many people who suffered from stuttering; most had mild case of it, but others were plagued by severe stammering. In many situations, it gave them unwanted attention and made them feel embarrassed. My boyfriend, who has stuttered his entire life, did the same things that were mentioned in the article as coping mechanisms; he answered questions in class in different voices, because he didn't stutter when he impersonated someone else, or he didn't answer at all, because it was so debilitating that he complete an entire sentence without fighting to get it out. Though it is possible for him to go for weeks without stammering, it invariably returns during times of anxiety and stress. Personally, I was one of the children who stuttered as a small child, but grew out of it without needing the aid of speech therepy; however, I am still prone to bouts of stammering at random, normally stressful, times.

By treating stuttering as a legitimate disease, it is possible to pinpoint the source, which scientists are currently in the midst of doing, and find a drug that will be able to minimize the amount and severity of stuttering that some people suffer from. This could not only improve their speaking skills, but also their general quality of life.