This article is a review of Gerald Maguire's Without Hesitation: Speaking to the Silence and the Science of Stuttering first appeared in the Spring 2011 issue of CSA Voices.

Gerald A. Maguire is an Associate Pressor of Clinical Psychiatry, and Senior Associate Dean of Educational Affairs, at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Kirkup Center for the Medical Treatment of Stuttering. This is the only research centre in the world dedicated exclusively to this field of study – the treatment of stuttering through medicine.

Gerald Maguire is a person who stutters, as well as being a clinician and researcher. Without Hesitation is written not for pathologists or other doctors but for people who do not have a scientific background.

During his education and career, Maguire found that even among his professional, well-educated peers there existed “a shocking lack of knowledge about stuttering.” He is extremely dedicated to educating people and to helping those who stutter. He also knows that some people are uncomfortable about the idea of taking drugs for stuttering.

Please note: this is a report on, not a republishing, of an article that appeared in the August 2009 issue of the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.

This article first appeared in the Winter 2011 CSAVoices.

Title of article reviewed: “Peer Responses to Stuttering in the Preschool Setting”
Authors: Marilyn Langevin, Ann Packman, and Mark Onslow, Australian Stuttering Research Centre, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Sean is a 4-year-old preschooler who stutters. He enjoys playing with his friends, but at times the words get in the way. In the same city live three other preschoolers who stutter – Aaron, Sarah, and David.  Stuttering affects each of them at preschool, especially when they’re playing with their friends.

What these preschoolers have in common, aside from being children who stutter, is the fact that they were subjects of a research project that Marilyn Langevin, of the University of Alberta, completed for her PhD dissertation at the University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Their names are pseudonyms.