Out With It: How Stuttering Helped Me Find My Voice

I really enjoyed Katherine Preston's book about stuttering and found it very informative and moving. I'm one of the co-chapter leaders of the Manhattan Stuttering Group, a chapter of the National Stuttering Association. I remember when Katherine interviewed a number of our members (including me) several years ago, and I had always been curious to read the book.A few weeks ago, I heard it had been published, and I eagerly downloaded the ebook to my Kindle, and devoured it over the past week or so. I am very impressed! While the book has become more of a personal memoir than a set of interviews with stutterers, she does a wonderful job of conveying what it's like to be a stutterer and the struggles that one feels. I found many of those parts very moving, and I could definitely identify with her struggles.She also includes some of the material from her interviews with other stutterers, as well as therapists and a few celebrities like Michael Palin of Monty Python, whose movie "A Fish Called Wanda" caused a big uproar in the stuttering community when it first came out and has been much discussed since. I never knew that his father stuttered and that the character in the movie was based on him.There are many wonderful anecdotes from Katherine and other stutterers, including from some people I have met over the years in the stuttering community. I also felt like I learned a lot from reading her book about some of the therapies out there and the history behind them, as well as the scientific research that has been done on the possible genetic causes of stuttering and future treatments that might develop from such research. She answered many of the questions that people who belong to our group--and those who come for the first time to a meeting--often ask those of us who have been going to stuttering support groups for a while. I feel like I have a better sense of how the different therapies out there work that I didn't really have before, having only worked with a few different therapists over the years before moving to the kind of self-support model that the National Stuttering Association provides.Anyway, I am definitely going to recommend this book to the other stutterers at our next meeting, and very likely at many more meetings to come!

I just finished this amazing book yesterday, I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. Though at times it was difficult to read, being a mom of an amazing 13 year old boy who stutters it hits home. My heart ached when I read of Katherine's feelings as a child and knowing my son feels that same frustration and hurt. As parents all that we want to do is protect them! I believe Katherine's book is a gift and I've been given a better understanding of of my son and the things he finds it difficult to express to me. Through her book I feel like I've gained a better understanding of how to support him best which is my ultimate goal as his parent. I hope as he grows he knows without a doubt how very proud we are of him and that we not for one moment were ever ashamed or embarrassed of his stutter! I believe that this is so very important in how he sees himself, we as parents must be sure at all times that our kids know how very proud of them we are, stutter or no stutter. We are the most important people in our kids lives, their rock! Not one of us walking this earth wouldn't change something about ourselves if we could, we all have our "stuff".Since as parents we have no handbook on how to best help our kids, this book is a definite read for parents who have a child who stutters. I truly believe that this book will help other parents who aren't sure how to best support their kids. Some pages were painful to read without a doubt, as I can easily identify with Katherine's parents on being scared and watching your child withdrawal and hurt, them being confused and not understanding why suddenly the words that were once easy to roll of their tongue they just can't get out. That helpless feeling of not knowing how to help them and wanting to take that pain away just hurts. As a parent of a teen who stutters, if you have a child who stutters I urge you to read this book.Thank you for your inspirational and amazing spirit Katherine, your words and amazing book. I look forward to sharing it with my son as he grows up and finds his voice!

Oh my goodness, what an amazing book. This young woman can write!! She is honest, funny, wise and at times heart-wrenching in her account of what it is like to live with a stutter. Above all, she is brave enough to tell us her truth and to face the world undaunted by her disability. Unlike many stutterers, Katherine Preston does not hide her light under a bushel. She speaks out, and she is masterful at it. In the end, she is both triumphant and eloquent - most of all when she speaks through her stutter and does not let it get in the way of who she is and what she has to share.I found "Out With It" compelling, I couldn't put it down. I wish this book had been available as we tried to help our son with his stutter in years past. How much we didn't know, and couldn't imagine! So many false prophets out there - even the notion that "fixing" his stutter was some kind of imperative that we owed him as parents. "Out With It" is packed with priceless wisdom and insight for anyone who stutters, or who cares about someone who does -- or for anyone who engages with the public at all (from educators to medical and emergency service personnel).Actually, come to think of it, it is a must-read for anybody who is human! We all face bridging the disconnect between our private and public selves, or wrestle with some painful notion of how we are "supposed" to be - from which we fear falling short. Katherine Preston illuminates these struggles, describes her particular challenge with grace and breathtaking honesty, and in doing so inspires all who embrace being fully human and (as she says) "perfectly imperfect". I have no doubt this book will be life-changing for countless people - as it was for me. I can't wait to hear her interviewed on NPR!

What a brilliant book! I have a mild to medium stutter which causes me distressing blocking and disfluency. Because it’s not always obvious, I find it’s even more embarrassing when it rears it’s ugly head. Tried speech therapy once but was dismissed because the therapist could not detect any obvious stuttering. I had decided to try self help methods to improve it and picked up this book. It has not provided any ‘help’ but it’s made me realise that it’s a condition I have to learn to live with and make the most of; it is part of what makes me perfectly imperfect - like everyone else. It has taught me to embrace each day as I live it and not allow stuttering to define who I am. I still aim to read other books to learn ways to improve my fluency, but at least I hope that I can better deal with any ‘downs’ that I may encounter.

I downloaded Katherine Preston's Memoir 'Out With It: How Stuttering helped me find my voice' because the author and I have a mutual friend, and truth be told, I'm a little bit nosy. I can't honestly say what it was I expected to think or feel as I read the book. I think I vaguely suspected that I would find a lot of it irrelevant, not being a stutterer myself. But I could not have been more wrong.There are many things to marvel at in this book; Katherine's courageous honesty is an inspiration in itself. But her story, her self-awareness, and her journey towards self-acceptance are relevant to everyone who has ever struggled with a difference - those perceived by ourselves or others as weaknesses or flaws. I hate to repeat myself, but I'm going to use the word Inspiration again, because that's what it is.Aside from all that though, it's an entertaining book. It's enjoyable to read. It's not weighed down with its purpose. It's a true story - a memoir - but it's funny, as all memoirs should be (in my opinion).

Katherine's debut novel is sure to make you laugh, make you think and make you finish it without putting it down- all the elements I need in a good book! I read Out With It in 2 days, getting sucked in to Katherine's story and wondering how it would all turn out for her. I particularly enjoyed how thought provoking it was. I remember back to my days at University, full of anguish about how others felt about me and how I was being perceived. I have never been someone to notice a stutter. I have a couple of friends who stutter and it's not something I have ever paid any attention to. It made me realise that we all dwell on what we perceive to be our negative traits, whilst others are far too busy to be worrying about their own things to be concerned with ours.Katherine is very very funny. I won't spoil the storyline, but highly recommend you read this beautifully written memoir. I saw another review written by a stutterer that said this should be recommended reading in schools. I couldn't agree more!I am sure we will be seeing plenty more from this gifted wordsmith. Congratulations Katherine.

Katherine's debut book is a wonderful insight into living with a stammer. I had the pleasure to meet Katherine when this book was only a thought in her mind. We both had a desire to control our stammers. This book is so true, every speaking situation that a fluent speaker takes for granted; Katherine takes you into the world of a stammerer.I can relate to events ,where I struggled to speak; so frustrated with the inability to communicate with ease. I appreciate the honesty and openness, in which "Out With It" is written . If you have a stammer or you know someone with a stammer or you would like to have more of an understanding and awareness into stammering, this is the book for you.I anticipate this could be the onset of a very successful career, which would make Katherine a truly accomplished writer as well as an inspiration to others.

Memoirs, self-help books, medical and psychological research publications - none of these are the types of books that I would ever choose to read for fun. Luckily, Out With It is none of these things - despite any preconceptions that one might have.Out With It is an honest and insightful account of a young woman's life, a young woman who happens to have a stutter. I found myself turning the pages furiously to find out what happened in the next chapter of her life, due to the compelling story-telling and emotional tone of voice of this book. The fact that this wonderful story then also happens to be based on Katherine's personal journey through the world of stuttering - just served to open my eyes to a world that I had never properly considered before. Not only has Katherine found her own voice through the journey of this novel, she has also given a voice to the world of stuttering.An interesting and emotional read that I couldn't put down. A book that will help you broaden your horizons just a little, without feeling preached or lectured too. I can't wait to hear about what she'll be writing next!