Yes, a head injury can either cause or worsen stuttering.

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Samuel L. Jackson is a Black actor who stutters. He reports that he was able to overcome it through acting. This is possibly through the many opportunities he had to speak under pressure and to use strategies he had learned with a speech therapist.

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Most definitely. As airflow is the foundation of speech, when the airflow is obstructed due to tension and uncontrolled closing of oral muscles, the sound produced is compromised. When airflow is maintained, when you are singing, for example, it is much easier to maintain fluency in speech.

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Craig Skistimas, also known as Stuttering Craig, the co-founder of ScrewAttack which is  a production company for video games. He is best known for his roles on Death Battle, Top 10, DBX and Sidescrollers. He is also an actor, voice actor, writer, comedian and podcast host.

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The adored pig from Looney Tunes, Porky Pig, has a stutter. It has been found that he stutters 23% of his spoken words and uses a wide variety of stuttering types. The story goes that his father was a severe stutterer, and thus Porky Pig was predisposed to this kind of speech at an early age. Shows depict Porky Pig as having experienced a range of traumas (i.e. being plagued by termites, talking to a giant, and serving as a private in the French Foreign Legion). While the show does not pay attention to the accuracy of stuttering, it does relate the impact of previous trauma to stuttering. In spite of his stuttering, Porky Pig achieves success in numerous jobs including a farmer, sailor, railroad engineer, pilot, newscaster, and a police officer.

• https://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster/gjohnson/ppig.html

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Stuttering affects around 70 million people worldwide, so yes of course there is going to be a comedian who stutters.  One of the more known comedians who actually got famous for his stutter is named John Melendez  also known as ‘Stuttering John’.  Melendez worked on talk shows, acted in movies and is now a stand up comedian for the “Midnight Joker Comedy Club”.  

One of the best known comedians in the UK named Daniel Kitson also has a stutter.  Some other celebrities that have been known to stutter include: Marilyn Monroe, Samuel L. Jackson, James Earl Jones, Emily Blunt, Steve Harvey, Ed Sheeran, Tiger Woods, Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, and Elvis Presley.

• https://thepresidentialhustle.com/10-famous-people-who-stutter-and-how-they-treated-their-stutter/

• https://www.stutteringhelp.org/sites/default/files/FamousPeople.pdf

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The National Stuttering Association (https://westutter.org/) is a good website to find news about stuttering. The ‘Stuttering Foundation’  is another website that provides the most up to date news (https://www.stutteringhelp.org)

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News reporter John Stossel is a news reporter who stuttered. News reporter and journalist Byron Pitts also stutter.

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There are two general philosophies of stuttering treatment:

1. Fluency shaping is the process of training a person with a stutter to maintain a style of speech that reduces the likelihood of stuttering. It assumes that if a person can effortfully control their speech, then the anxiety and discomfort associated with stuttering will no longer be a problem. Often, this type of treatment begins with a very unnatural speaking style to promote 100% fluent speech. Over time, this speaking style is shaped to sound natural to the ignorant observer. 

2. Stuttering acceptance is the process of teaching a person who stutters how to function in their life without trying to change their stutter directly. It assumes that stuttering is only a problem because of the ways in which it impacts the lives of people who stutter, causing them discomfort and anxiety; therefore, treating the anxiety and discomfort will lead to the individual becoming happier and communicating more freely with their loved ones. Paradoxically, people who accept their stuttering fully can end up speaking more fluidly than those who pursue fluency shaping treatment!

The type of treatment that a person receives will likely depend on their attitudes, the severity of their stutter, and their clinician’s perspective on stuttering. If there is one type of stuttering treatment that you would greatly prefer, then be sure to discuss your clinician’s treatment philosophy during your intake conversation. Questions that you can ask include:

• Do you use a fluency shaping or stuttering acceptance approach in your therapy? (this will prompt a very straight-forward answer)

• What types of goals do you often work on with clients? (hint: fluency shaping clinicians will describe strategies to change your speech, and acceptance-promoting clinicians will describe strategies to investigate your emotional responses to stuttering or to change your perspective)

• How will we know when I am ready to be discharged from therapy? (hint: fluency shaping clinicians will say that it is when your speech is stutter-free, and acceptance-promoting clinicians will say that it is when you feel confident in your speech regardless of whether you stutter)

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Voice is essentially air that is vibrated at the level of the neck, and filtered through the mouth and nose cavities. When an individual stutters, the voice may change as there is additional tension on the vocal folds and on the musculature surrounding it. Tension may lead the vocal folds to tense and tighten, leading to a pressed voice, or even one that has frequent voice breaks.

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