With so much interest in the movie "The King's Speech," CBS Sunday Morning is taking a look at stuttering - a condition that impacts around 3 million Americans and 65 million people worldwide - on January 30th. Our Time founder Taro Alexander and some of the Our Time kids will appear with "King's Speech" Academy Award nominees David Seidler and Geoffrey Rush.
As a person who has stuttered since he was five years old, Our Time Founder Taro Alexander is uniquely qualified to talk about the shame children who stutter feel each day. Alexander didn't meet another person who stuttered until he was in his twenties -- he created Our Time to make certain that other children don't feel the isolation he battled for nearly two decades. With his guidance, Our Time brings sensitivity and compassion to a group of youngsters who are often consumed by shame or, even worse, ignored. It is the only such organization in America.
By building confidence in children who stutter, and working in tandem with educators and Speech Pathologists, Our Time can help improve performance in school as well as in the day-to-day lives of these kids. Learn more about Our Time at www.ourtimestutter.org.
A Londoner by birth, David Seidler developed a profound childhood stutter. As a result, George VI, the stammering King who had to speak, became a boyhood hero, role model and inspiration for Seidler's film. Now, as Seidler and Our Time join forces, the acclaimed writer - who suffered from such a strong childhood stutter that he feared the ring of the telephone because he was unable to make the "h" sound to say "hello" - is able to inspire a new generation of children who stutter with his beautiful, powerful and true story.
Learn more about "The King's Speech," and click to read David Seidler's fascinating bio, at http://kingsspeech.com/filmmakers.html.
The segment on stuttering is scheduled to air this Sunday, January 30th, at 9am. Check local listings for details, and click here for a segment preview on the CBS NEWS site. Know that breaking news can postpone segments.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos
