The Biology of . . . Stuttering

Say, "Look Mom, I don't stutter anymore!" Now say it again, dragging out each syllable until the phrase lasts 15 seconds. That's how Joe Kalinowski sounded 20 years ago, when he came home from stuttering therapy. Most experts now believe that stuttering is a neurological disorder. But back then, speech therapists believed it was a psychological problem, brought on by perfectionist parents or childhood trauma. To "cure" his stutter, Kalinowski was taught to slow his speech to one syllable per second, but the only person impressed by this was his mother. Everyone else assumed Joe was demented.