HARRISBURG, PA (WENY) -- Representative Brandon Markosek (D-25) speaks with a stutter.
“Most stutters are caught between the age of 2 and 6. Mine was caught at age 3,” said Markosek in a sit down interview.
Now, as a state representative, he’s fighting to reduce stigma around the speech impediment.
“You know, given my position now, I want to be an advocate for speech and hearing disorders,” said Markosek. "It's something I'm very passionate about just because I've experienced it. I was bullied, I was picked on, I was teased. You know, I sat in a corner in the classroom.”
Conscious of how important it is for kids with a stutter to get help early, Markosek sponsored HB 2268. It passed the House with 181 votes, and is now waiting for a vote from the Senate. If passed, it requires all insurance in Pennsylvania to cover speech therapy for stuttering.
"What we found out is certain private insurance plans just simply don't cover stuttering. So what happens is if your insurance coverage doesn't cover it, you don't seek help,” said Markosek.
"When you can treat stuttering early and kids can see a speech therapist early,” said Markosek, “The therapy might not solve their problem, but at least make them more confident in themselves and also with their family, their teachers as well."
Stuttering is a neurological condition linked to genetics.
“It manifests itself by differences in the way the brain works during speech tasks,” said Coleman ,the Dean of Health Science & Human Services at PennWest University.
He emphasized that there is nothing wrong with a person’s brain who has a stutter; it just works different.
"And again, that's not like a habit that you can just snap your fingers and get out of,” said Coleman.
Speech language pathology experts say there are a lot of misconceptions about stuttering.
“Stuttering is not an emotional problem. It’s not a problem of us being anxious. A person can develop anxiety about speaking because of a stutter, but anxiety is not the cause of a stutter,” said Craig Coleman,
In turn, offering insurance coverage can legitimatize a condition.
"When something is covered by insurance, it does kind of reduce stigma to a certain degree because it gives it credibility, right?” said Coleman. “Where when something isn't covered, you know, right or wrong, people have the misconception then of like, well, this might be just something you can control.
Mary Weidner, a speech pathologist and associate professor at PennWest, said that HB 2268 can help families and speech therapists spend more time in actual therapy… rather than going back and forth with an insurance company to discern if something is covered or not.
For Markosek, his goal remains to encourage empathy while taking practical steps to increase access.
“Ways to improve… don't laugh. Don't judge. If you do hear a stutter, try not to finish that person's sentence for them. They are working hard to get the word out,” said Markosek.
“If I could tell somebody out there that's watching that has a stutter, you know be confident and but also, you know, seek help and because it'll make you feel more confident in yourself.”