"Positively Scary" is our slogan to raise awareness of stuttering
while reducing bullying in schools, workplace and life.
What is SCARECROW?
Scarecrow is an acronym for
S outh
C arolina
A ssociation for
R aising
E ducation
C oncerning
R estrictive
O ratory
W alls
Common Myths about stuttering
Myth: People who stutter are not smart.
Reality: There is no link whatsoever between stuttering and intelligence.
Myth: Nervousness and/or stress causes stuttering.
Reality:We should not assume that people who stutter are prone to be fearful, anxious, or shy. These emotions may aggravate a stutter, but those who stutter have the same full range of personality traits as those who do not.
Myth: Stuttering can be “caught” by hearing another person stutter.
Reality: You can't “catch” stuttering. Recent research indicates that family history (genetics), neuromuscular development, and the child's environment all play a role in the onset of stuttering.
Myth: It helps to tell a person to “take a deep breath before talking" or "think about what you want to say first.”
Reality: This advice only makes a person more self-conscious, making the stuttering worse. More helpful responses include listening patiently and modeling slow and clear speech yourself.
(www.stutteringhelp.org, 1991-2013)
So what can I do? "S.T.O.P. I.T."!
(S) top the bullying immediately,
(T) ag and identify the behavior at once,
(O) ffer assistance and social support to the victim,
(P) resent immediate/appropriate consequences for bullying behavior,
(I) nstruct witnesses and bystanders,
(T) each students, personnel, parents, and friends intervention strategies.
Commonly reported bullying includes 4 types:
•Physical (hitting, pushing, kicking, beating)
•Verbal (put-downs, abusive language, name-calling)
•Relational (spreading rumors, exclusion from social groups, peer discrimination)
•Cyber bullying (texting, tweeting, and otherwise using technology, often anonymously, to inflict aggression without personal contact)
Children with disabilities are more vulnerable to bullying experiences.
(Rose, Monda-Amaya, & Espelage, 2009 Rose & Monda-Amaya, 2011)
Children who stutter are especially prone to being a target of bullying today. They're made to feel different, even ostracized... and with no “cure” for stuttering, it can be overwhelming to be faced by bullying day after day at school. But it's not always obvious exactly how to handle a bullying situation, or the full complexity of what's going on.
There are four main characters
in the cycle of bullying aggression:
1) Bullies 2) Victims
3) Bully-victims 4) Bystanders
Bullies are not only the “bigger kids” using foul language who are academically challenged. They can be the popular girls, the class leaders, the student-athletes, and the teachers’ favorites. They include the students who display great difficulty learning and sometimes the most gifted children in the school.
Victims may display one or more of these characteristics: they may appear to be more sensitive, weak, shy, and quiet. They may display poorer social skills/relations and uneasiness in conversations. Victims tend to be described as either passive (non-responsive to the aggression - 80%) or provocative (responsive - 20%).
Bully-victims (or “provocative victims”) strike back at the bully with aggression and often begin to use coping responses which mimic bullying behaviors.
Bystanders are the final character in this violent cycle. The bully needs someone to witness the power struggle. Bystanders take on divergent roles of a cheerleader/supporter of the bully, protector/defender of the victim or silent on-lookers, lost, fearful and not knowing what to do.
As you can see, regardless of who plays which role... bullying impacts all the children in a school.
Famous People Who Stutter:
James Earl Jones
Emily Blunt
Mel Tillis
Bruce Willis
Jimmy Stewart
Carly Simon
Marilyn Monroe
B.B. King
Wayne Brady
Tyger Woods
Bo Jackson
Lewis Carroll
Jim Davis
Additional media on or about stuttering:
(Click to buy)
Shadow of my Father's Secret
By: Karen Malena
Twenty- year- old Aaron DeAngelis is seriously thinking about taking his own life. Born with a nervous stutter, dealing with a verbally abusive father, he has always felt unloved, invisible.
As the abuse pushes Aaron closer to the edge, he discovers his father’s past, a past darker and more painful than his own. But will the DeAngelis family ever find healing and redemption?
