James Wolfe
Hmm, stuttering. More nonsense has been written on this malady than most others. I stuttered for over 30 years and tried just about everything: from hypnosis to prayer, from speech therapy to self help. Nothing worked. Until finally a retired opera singer (herself a one-time stutterer) delivered the magic bullet. "You're singing with one voice," she said, "and speaking with another." She was right. My speech was at least half an octave above my bass-baritone singing voice. As soon as I lowered my speaking voice, my stutter disappeared! Now I'm not saying that this will work for everybody. Your mileage will, as they say, vary. Yet it is a fact that stuttering is a symptom of a lack of self-confidence, and one way to restore this is to speak with a fuller, i.e. deeper and more authoritative voice. Borrow some John Wayne movies and have your son mimic the Duke. I'm serious ;-) I think you'll find that dropping the voice will, by itself, restore self-confidence and thereby reduce stuttering, especially when making phone calls. Also, have him enroll in an acting program. I acted too, and never stuttered once on stage. Well, that's my two cents. James Wolfe