I am now 30 years old. As a child my mother was bilingual in Spanish and English. She figured that we (3 siblings) would absorb the English language in school, with TV, and the environment around us. So at home we mainly spoke Spanish during the first few years of our lives, especially at Abuelita's house. My mom was right by the time we entered pre-school we understood both languages. Yes, we did attend a bilingual school and had great teachers. My Mother was actively involved in our education and always had high expectation in everything we did. But she learned that each of her children had different capabilities. Those of us who excelled, better things were expected and those who had a bit of struggles, she worked accordingly with. I can't thank my mother, grandparents and teachers enough for teaching me our beautiful Spanish language. Whenever I go to Latin American countries people hear me speak Spanish, they know I'm from the US and they expect me to speak poorly. Yet they are amazed, they tell me that they are impressed with my Spanish. The same happens here. I am Mexican and Puerto Rican and because I really don't have either country’s accent they ask me "where are your roots from?” they tell me “hablas el español muy bien”. And every time I hear that it makes me so proud of my roots. It reminds me how important it is to be poised, stand up straight and proud of our beautiful culture. How can you not give your child that? Now that I am expecting my first child I hope that my husband and I can raise him/her with the same dignity and respect for our native tongue that I was raised with. It can be done!

This statement is invalid, coming from a familiar background. Im currently a bilingual teacher and if a parent(s) speak/expose their kids to more than one language as they're being raised, it will by not affect their speech. A child's brain is like a sponge, the more you feed it, the more it absorbs. Such cases mentioned could've been present to children that were raised bilingual, however, other circumstances must've taken place at the same time; information that was not fully given to us as readers. Please do not be discouraged from raising your kids with two languages and please consider having your kids be part of a strong bilingual program...get informed! :)

Readers will want to know that the Stuttering Foundation also maintains a Spanish Web site, www.tartamudez.org. Many of their materials are in Spanish and English including DVDs. Their Web sites, www.tartamudez.org and www.stutteringhelp.org, have brochures and books that are available for free downloading and several DVDs are free video-streaming. These materials provide effective ways for preschoolers, elementary children, teenagers, and adults to deal with stuttering.