{"id":8385,"date":"2014-07-15T18:39:40","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T01:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/?p=8385"},"modified":"2016-03-14T10:47:10","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T17:47:10","slug":"stutter-superstar-megan-washington-stutter-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/news\/stutter-superstar-megan-washington-stutter-story\/","title":{"rendered":"From Stutter to Superstar: Megan Washington&#8217;s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_8389\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screenshot-2014-07-09-11.46.00.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8389\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8389 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screenshot-2014-07-09-11.46.00-300x171.png\" alt=\"Megan Washington\" width=\"300\" height=\"171\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screenshot-2014-07-09-11.46.00-300x171.png 300w, https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screenshot-2014-07-09-11.46.00-470x269.png 470w, https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screenshot-2014-07-09-11.46.00-350x200.png 350w, https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screenshot-2014-07-09-11.46.00.png 628w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/171;\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-8389\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Award-winning singer\/songwriter Megan Washington suffers from a stutter. Image Courtesy of ABC.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A multi-platinum singer, two-time ARIA Award winner, and guest judge on The Voice,\u00a0do you know Megan Washington? As one of Australia\u2019s most famous singer\/songwriters, &#8220;Washington&#8221; as she\u2019s called, is setting stages on fire all across the world. But, did you know that Megan Washington has suffered from a debilitating stutter since she was five years old? \u00a0If you have not seen her TEDx presentation, you may have never heard Megan Washington stutter, nor guessed that public speaking was her greatest fear. Her experience, as with many, was that singing therapy for stuttering brought &#8220;sweet relief&#8221; from her speech impediment. It was the only time she felt her speech was fluent. Washington\u2019s story recently became headline news as she revealed her long-time secret at a <a title=\"Tedx conference\" href=\"https:\/\/tedxsydney.com\/talk\/the-thing-is-i-stutter-megan-washington\/\" target=\"_blank\">TEDx conference<\/a> in Sydney earlier this year.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;To me, language and music are inextricably linked through one thing. And that thing is I have a stutter.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Washington, who was born in New Guinea, moved to Australia when she was in high school. While she had been diagnosed with a stutter as a five year old, the problem was exacerbated when she moved to Brisbane and was bullied by fellow students. The bullying encouraged Washington to focus more on singing, finding that the stage became her &#8220;happy place.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>See\u00a0her TEDx talk:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tedxsydney.com\/talk\/the-thing-is-i-stutter-megan-washington\/\">The Thing Is, I Stutter: Megan Washington<\/a><br \/>\n<iframe data-src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9MegHiL93B0\" width=\"853\" height=\"480\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Sharing the\u00a0Megan Washington\u00a0Stutter<\/h2>\n<p>During her TEDx presentation, Washington went into detail about how she had gone to great lengths to hide her speech impediment, including declining public appearances and interviews and practicing <em>Smooth Speech<\/em> techniques. What exactly are these techniques? We covered <a title=\"10 Simple Steps for Smooth Speech\" href=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/speech-therapy-techniques\/10-simple-steps-for-smooth-speech-fluency\/\" target=\"_blank\">10 simple steps for smooth speech<\/a> in our blog in May, however there is a specific speech therapy protocol targeted at helping those who stutter slow down and become more aware of their speaking process.\u00a0According to the <a title=\"Australian Speak Easy Association\" href=\"http:\/\/www.speakeasy.org.au\/treatment\/\" target=\"_blank\">Australian Speak Easy Association<\/a>, this particular therapy is an\u00a0evidence-based treatment conducted by speech pathologists\u00a0all over the world.\u00a0It\u00a0is usually taught in an intensive environment where a group of individuals are brought together for treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Research has shown that people who suffer from stuttering do not exhibit the stuttering behavior when they are singing. While nobody knows exactly why this happens, there is\u00a0evidence that the brain functions differently for singing than it does for talking. Also, when singing, a person uses his or her\u00a0vocal chords, lips, and tongue differently than when\u00a0talking. \u00a0And, one of the biggest reasons may be that there\u00a0is no time pressure in singing, nor is there any communicative pressure. Carly Simon, B.B. King and Mel Tillis are all famous singers who stutter. For\u00a0more on the science of singing and stuttering, read our\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/speech-therapy-techniques\/singing-without-a-stutter-music-as-a-speech-therapy-tool\/\" target=\"_blank\">Singing without a Stutter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As for Washington, her speech garnered her accolades and praise for coming forth with her speech disorder, and led her to a new lease on life. Letting people in on her stuttering secret has helped liberate her, and has given her power to be herself. Her new album is coming out in September and we can&#8217;t wait to hear it!<\/p>\n<p>Check out this list of famous singers who have a\u00a0<a title=\"famous people who stutter\" href=\"http:\/\/www.stutteringhelp.org\/famous-people-who-stutter\" target=\"_blank\">stutter.<\/a>\u00a0You may be surprised!<\/p>\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"\">\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-node \" id=\"\">\n        <!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]-->\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/speechbuddy.com\/guides\/communication-challenges\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img lazyload\" id=\"\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 655px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 655\/211;border-width:0px;\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/533600a3-8950-4500-aa3b-fab8818be024.png\"  alt=\"Parent's Guide to Speech & Communication Challenges\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/><\/a>\n    <\/span>\n    <\/span>\n    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A multi-platinum singer, two-time ARIA Award winner, and guest judge on The Voice,\u00a0do you know Megan Washington? As one of Australia\u2019s most famous singer\/songwriters, &#8220;Washington&#8221; as she\u2019s called, is setting stages on fire all across the world. But, did you know that Megan Washington has suffered from a debilitating stutter since she was five years [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":8440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[1411,1681,20,1359,5,52,1679,1111,1680],"class_list":["post-8385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-communication-skills","tag-smooth-speech-technique","tag-speech-disorders-1","tag-speech-impediment","tag-speech-therapy","tag-stuttering","tag-stuttering-and-singing","tag-stuttering-treatment","tag-tedx"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/megan-washington-stutter.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8385"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11214,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8385\/revisions\/11214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}