By H. W. HOLSCHUCH

By H. W. HOLSCHUCH

RappMinaockNcwiCwitrUMtittf Writer" * Stutterers, stroke victims, and people with a wide variety of speech defects have a lot in common. They all can be helped to a certain degree by Sid Gottlieb.

Gottlieb is a licensed speech therapist who helps people at the Child Care and Learning Center just south of Washington.

In 1973, Gottlieb returned after 35 years as a chemist with the U.S. government. When he retired, he decided he wanted to work with people, rather than test tubes.

So, even though he had a doctor’s degree, he went back to college for four more years of graduate study at San Jose State in California, and became a speech therapist.

When the Gottliebs (Sid and Margaret) moved to Rappahannock County in 1980, they devoted themselves to helping others. He tutored those with speech difficulties; she tutored the learning disabled. Both took their talents to the Child Care and Learning Center.

Gottlieb explains that there are four general areas of speech pathology: articulation, language problems, fluency and the voice itself.

Articulation is the ability to make individual sounds. People who lisp, indulge in baby talk or say “wabbit” instead of “rabbit,” have difficulty with articulation. Gottlieb helps these people speak more clearly.

Language problems include disordered grammar, or putting the wrong endings on adjectives or adverbs, or on past tense and possessive words. Gottlieb believes that, if these people would listen carefully while other people are talking, they would pick up proper language easily. But a little coaching also helps, he adds.

Fluency involves stuttering, talking too fast, running words together or speaking monotone. Gottlieb knows from experience what this problem is like, because he once had a serious stuttering problem, too.