by Carmen Shapiro | Jun 13, 2018 | Chapter meeting, News
The second meeting of this month (normally set for the 3rd Tuesday of the month at La Salle University) will be held at a different time and location. The new details are: Monday, June 18 – at Bala Cynwyd Library, 1st Floor Meeting Room, 7:00 PM – 8:45 PM.
Also, for the next couple of months, all meetings will be held at the Bala Cynwyd Library. More announcements to come regarding meetings on the second meeting of the month.
See below for upcoming meeting details:
- Monday, June 18 – Bala Cynwyd Library, 1st Floor Meeting Room
- Tuesday, June 19 – RESCHEDULED to Monday 6/18/18 (no more La Salle University meetings; new location to be announced)
- Thursday, July 5th – CANCELLED due to NSA Conference in Chicago
- Tuesday, July 17th – Bala Cynwyd Library, 2nd Floor Meeting Room
by Carmen Shapiro | Jul 20, 2016 | News
It was a lot of fun! We were 9 people at the picnic. We had two tables next to each other under full shade for the whole time and next to the meadow with a nice view of the arch in the back .
We shared food and drinks, talked, played soccer and threw a football around. There was a nice breeze and the weather was more pleasant than expected. We’ll repeat it next year!
Carmen
by Carmen Shapiro | Jul 16, 2016 | News
Hi,
This year was my second NSA Conference. As you know this year’s conference was held in combination with the International Stuttering Association (ISA) World Congress. There were around 850 attendees, of which 80 or 90 came from other countries. I met people from Sweden, Kuwait, West Africa, Canada, Japan, Israel, Germany, Iceland, Finland, Estonia, and others. At least more than 25 countries were represented. It was great seeing friends I met two years ago, but meeting new friends from so many places made this conference extra special. Here are some pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/2qF1TS6ZAGEWqH196
There were several workshops led by international attendees, “Speaking Circle” lead by Satu Nygren and Andri Bjarnason from Finland, and “A Mindful Sense of Vulnerabily ” by Anita Bloom from Sweden were two of my favorites. Speaking Circle is a way to practice speaking in front of groups where the speaker has 3 minutes to talk about any topic he/she wants and then receives only positive feedback about his/her delivery. We heard some very good stories and Katherine Filer from the South Jersey chapter was one of the speakers that went up to the podium. But the best part of the workshop was when a 16-year old first-time attendee girl came to the front. She told us how she had been a very outgoing girl when she was young, but everything changed after she started stuttering in third grade and became very shy. After all the rollercoaster of emotions from her first conference, she had gathered the courage to speak in front of our small group of about 15 people. She became very emotional and started crying but stood her ground and stayed on the stage. Anita Blom went to her, hugged her and reassured her, and she was able to finish speaking. Her father was in the audience and by the end of the workshop many of us were in tears, happy and sad at the same time, filled with love and empathy but overall, happy that she was able to take such a big step and that we were there to share the moment with her. The amazing thing is that less than hour after that, we had the conference’s Closing Ceremonies and she came to the stage, this time in front of 800 people, and spoke beautifully to express how amazing the conference had been for her.
There were very active workshops such as “Improv for Beginners” and “Creative Movement and Storytelling”. They were a lot of fun. We had to find ways to improvise with movements as well as with words. By the end of the workshop you’ve lost your inhibitions and you are just dancing and moving around with everybody. I went to the early morning Yoga class on Friday and attended a different Yoga workshop (“The Yoga way: Relax your body, relieve your mind”) where we learned about Visuddha and how to do some stretches around the throat and torso to keep those areas relaxed.
There were many workshops for children, teens, and 20-somethings, as well as workshops that provide CEUs for speech language pathologist. I attended one of the CEU sessions called “How we talk about stuttering”, led by Hanan Hurwitz from Israel. We discussed how the way you talk about something and the language you use can communicate unintended judgement or meaning and it affects how you view things. Something that stuck with me came from one woman that said that she used to tell people that she had a “speech impediment”. She later realized that by saying “impediment” she was judging her stutter as something bad that creates obstacles, predisposing the listener and herself for bad things to come. She started to say that she just stutters. There is no judgment or hidden connotations, it is just a fact. By doing that, she is not setting herself up for failure and she acknowledges the fact that she stutters without implying anything bad with it.
Our founder and past chapter leader, Bill Parry, presented a workshop called “The neurological key to dissolving stuttering blocks” where he presented findings from therapy sessions with his patients and a lot of interesting information about the blocking mechanism, the Valsalva Maneuver. It was very well attended.
There were many other workshops and of course a couple of General Sessions. One of the key note speakers was Vince Vawter, a person who stutters and a retired newspaper publisher that recently wrote a book, “Paperboy” about a boy that stutters and has to run a newspaper delivery route to help a friend. It is a wonderful book, short and very easy to read, that brings up a lot of the memories from being a young person that stutters.
And of course, the last night we had the dinner banquet, live action and dancing. Overall, it was a lot of fun.
Towards the end of the conference, I talked to Tammy Flores, the NSA Executive Directory, about the possibility of bringing the conference to Philadelphia. She thought that it would be a great location and would like to make it happen and she offered 2019 as the first available slot (next year is in Dallas and in 2018 it will be somewhere in Southern California). I am very excited about this and several people have already come to me offering to volunteer to help. It is three years away but it will come sooner that you expect.
Let’s get ready for 2019!
Carmen Shapiro
Philadelphia NSA Chapter co-leader
by Carmen Shapiro | Jun 25, 2016 | News
Come join us for some summer fun and bring family and friends. We will be at Wayne’s Woods Picnic Area of historic Valley Forge Park, near King of Prussia on July 17th starting at 11:30 am. Rain date is the following Sunday, July 24. Please RSVP to this email or contact me at gredos@verizon.net and let me know how many people will be coming with you.
This is what you need to bring:
- Bring your own lunch and some food item to share with others: chips, soda, cookies, veggies, etc.
- A towel or blanket to lay down on the ground
- Something to play with: Frisbee, football, baseball glove, bat and balls, etc.
- Don’t forget the sunscreen!
Directions
To get to the park, use the following address on your GPS or you might be sent to the wrong place:
1400 North Outer Line Drive
King of Prussia, PA 19406
This will get you to the Visitor’s Center. Once you are in the park, you need to get to the Wayne’s Woods Picnic Area
Wayne’s Woods Picnic Area
This picnic area is located on South Outer Line Drive, along The Encampment Tour route, and in between the National Memorial Arch and the General Anthony Wayne Statue (tour stops 3 and 4 respectively). These picnic grounds open up to a large mown field with the National Memorial Arch in the background.
Directions from the Visitor Center:
- Keep right at the fork and follow North Outer Line Drive along The Encampment Tour route.
- Follow N. Outer Line Drive for approximately 2 miles.
- Make a right into the Wayne’s Woods Picnic Area parking lot.
by Carmen Shapiro | Apr 4, 2016 | News
As is tradition at this time of the year, we were invited to participate in the La Salle’s Panel of People Who Stutter lead by Dr Amster and Dr Trichon for their graduate class in Speech Language Pathology. 8 people who stutter attended. We started by introducing ourselves to all the students and commenting on our experience with therapy and stuttering. Then the students broke up in groups of 4 or 5 and each of us spent about 10 minutes with each group. It was a very intense experience because we were talking the whole time. The students had a lot of interesting questions and they were very interested in all aspects of stuttering, such as feelings, techniques and therapy.
We thank Drs Amster and Trichon for the opportunity to talk to the students and increase their knowledge about stuttering. If anything we said helps even only one therapist help a child or person who stutters in the future, we’ve done our job.
Until next year!
by Carmen Shapiro | Dec 13, 2015 | News
We had a great time! This year’s holiday party was combined with the South Jersey NSA chapter. It took place at Dave and Buster’s in Columbus Blvd. We were a total of 17 people. All chapter leaders, past and present, attended as well as many members of both chapters. We had the Executive Billiards room to ourselves the whole night.
We sat down around the big pool table, which was covered for dinner, and had a chance to catch up with everybody. We took some breaks to play a trivia game and gave away lots of prizes.
We also celebrated the Philadelphia Chapter’s 30th anniversary. Bill Parry and Lou Madonna received awards in recognition for all their work as chapter leaders during the past 30 years. They had a lot of stories to tell about how our party got started and what it took to keep it alive.
After dinner, the billiards table was uncovered and we played pool for a while. Afterwards, we went to the game room and played lots of games, some individual, some in teams, and some against each other. Overall, it was a great evening of fun and good friends. Happy Holidays everyone!
