The emotional trauma of the Second World War coupled with the murder of his grandparents in the Holocaust, laid the seeds of David Seidler’s stammer. Attempts at speech therapy failed until he decided that ‘I deserve to be heard’. He was inspired by radio speeches of King George VI. His parents encouraged him, ‘David, he was a much worse stutterer than you, and listen to him now. He's not perfect. But he can give these magnificent, stirring addresses that rallied the free world.’
Later on David went on to study the journey of the King who overcame his speech impediment. David’s research resulted in the award winning screenplay of the film, ‘King’s Speech’. Seidler’s story as well as screenplay is inspirational to everyone who bears the burden of a speech impediment.
Much before his war-time accession to the throne, the King goes to an unorthodox speech therapist, Lionel Hogue. They work together on muscle relaxation and breath control, while simultaneously probing the psychological roots of his stammer: a strict father; the repression of natural left-handedness; a painful treatment with metal splints for his knock-knees; a nanny who would deliberately pinch him to make him cry before his parents; and the early death of his little brother.
It is pertinent to note that Hogue has no qualification other than his experience in helping shell-shocked soldiers find their ‘voice’. His highly effective methods are based on getting his learners to be better at believing they have a voice by unlearning all negative strokes from the formative years of childhood. After all, technique would be in vain in the absence of an empowered temperament.
May we BE BETTER at finding our primed voice…
Self-belief helps overcome every impediment vice!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
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