Letter: World needs more like Jan Turnquist

Having stuttered for most of my life, I was thrilled to read your Aug. 4 article, "Words, speech are her passion" about speech therapist Jan Turnquist, who has retired after 35 years with the Yuba County Office of Education. All I can say is that I wish there had been speech therapists like Turnquist in the school system I attended in another state.

I recall that speech therapy class made me feel different in that I was yanked out of my regular class and all the other kids knew it. I am sure that the two speech therapists that I had were just aberrations and not representative of public school speech therapists on the whole. I wish that Jan Turnquist had been my speech therapist for those years as she is obviously a compassionate and inspiring person.

These days I direct parents of children who stutter to the Web site of The Stuttering Foundation (www.stutteringhelp.org) because their list of "Famous People Who Stutter" inspires young people. The Stuttering Foundation also offers a slew of books and DVDs for children, adults and teachers.

As the article reflects, there are many different childhood speech problems out there that need to be addressed. In my opinion, I have never thought that the issue of childhood speech therapy is adequately addressed. I just hope that Ms. Turnquist successor carries on her tradition. I am sure that your article will result in Ms. Turnquist receiving countless thank you letters from the students whose lives she touched over her 35 years.

Edmund S. Holmgren

Loomis