In this episode, the fathers of two young men who stutter, Bob Rafferty and Dan Quinn, discuss their sons' experiences and resilience in managing their speech challenges. Brian Nolan, also a father of two sons who stutter, shares his own journey as a parent and a lifelong stutterer, and why he became an advocate later in life. What's extra special here is that Bob and Dan are the fathers of Kevin Rafferty and Conor Quinn, two Board members of the Stuttering Springboard who are changing the perception of stuttering and what it feels like to be a person who stutters.

The message from the dads: "let them". Let them be them. Don't try and fix your children. Help them build confidence by focusing on what they do well.

Welcome back Kevin. Since we last spoke Kevin's career has taken off, both in the profit and nonprofit world. In business, Kevin's journey as a wealth manager with GVA Wealth Management has taken off. Brian now uses Kevin as well and says that "nobody will work harder for you than Kevin". In the nonprofit world, Kevin is the Treasurer of The Stuttering Springboard, the new organization that was formerly known as The Noan Stuttering Foundation (listen to the podcast for more details!). Kevin explains his professional journey, through college, internships and his new level of acceptance of his stutter. His advice: disclose, disclose, disclose. It will change your world. Enjoy the podcast!

There is a lot of silence around stuttering. Many of us who stutter spent years running from it and doing everything possible to hide it… to “not be found out”. It was the stigma, how people think about people who stutter, that forced us into hiding. So, we don’t talk, we switch words and avoidance becomes our operating system. With some of us, like Pat Festa, our guest today, the light bulb goes off; the realization that we have to become activists for people who stutter, to educate the world about what it means to be a person who stutters in a fluent world. Pat is our neighbor, from Collegeville, just a few towns over. The beauty of this experience is that Pat, a young adult who stutters, found us, because we at the Nolan Stuttering Foundation have decided to stop hiding and to start educating the world. Pat is doing some exciting things. He is a teacher, an actor and about to launch a new program called “Stutter4You”. I’m joined by Pat and my associate John McDermott. John is on the Board of NSF as well as a Master Sergeant in the US Air force. Enjoy the podcast!