Self-Help & Personal Growth

THE ZEN OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

by Suman

Introduction to Joe and his Childhood Struggles with Speaking J oe was born in a small town in rural America. He was the third child of five, and his parents worked hard to provide for their growing family. From an early age, Joe struggled with speaking. His parents noticed he hit different speech milestones than his siblings, and he often worked to form words correctly. They became increasingly concerned when he was still not speaking in complete sentences by age three. Introduce Joe, his Family, and his Struggles with Speaking Joe’s parents took him to see a speech therapist, who diagnosed him with a speech disorder called apraxia. Apraxia is a motor malfunction that affects a person’s ability & capacity to plan and execute the movements required for speech. For Joe, this meant he had difficulty coordinating his mouth and throat muscles to form words. The therapist recommended that Joe attend speech therapy twice weekly to improve his communication skills.