Mother and son writing duo Kimberly Garvin and Saadiq Wicks have co-authored the children’s book “When Oliver Speaks” to help stuttering youth embrace their stutter with confidence.
Four years ago, Saadiq Wicks was sitting on a train to New York City with his mother Kimberly Garvin when inspiration struck. He turned to her and said he’d like to write a children’s book about a character who, like himself, stutters. By the time the pair reached New York, they had a fully formulated story in mind and jotted down in the notes section of Garvin’s phone.
Today, the book has gone from the notes section of Garvin’s phone to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. “When Oliver Speaks” was published at the end of July, and the Voorhees mother/son writing duo are hoping through their book, children with a disability are inspired to embrace what makes them different.
Growing up, Wicks, who is a now 15-years-old and an incoming sophomore at Eastern Regional High School, said he was quiet and didn’t speak much so as not to draw attention to his stutter. All that changed, however, when Wicks’ speech pathologist recommended he attend Camp SAY, a camp in North Carolina run through the Stuttering Association for the Young.
It was at camp, surrounded by kids who spoke like him, that Wicks found his voice. Garvin said her son returned and spoke more than she had ever heard him speak before.
“The kid that left was quiet,” Garvin said. “I don’t even know that he even recognized his own voice. Ten days away and he said, ‘I learned that I was supposed to dream big and live courageously.’”
The then 8-year-old came back and decided to stop working with his speech pathologist. He said he felt like his speech pathologist had been pushing for him to become a fluent speaker but didn’t care about fixing the larger problem, which was his building up his confidence enough to have him use his voice.
“All I needed was confidence and someone to help me talk more,” Wicks said.
At the age of 13, Wicks started his own nonprofit, “Lllet Me Finish,” to raise funds and awareness about stuttering as well as to fund sending kids to the camp, which had such a profound effect on him.
For Wicks, he’s always working to break down misconceptions about stuttering. He said too often people don’t let stutters finish what they have to say or will try to dispense advice about how to speak.
“A lot of people think that telling a person who stutters to slow down is like helpful, but it makes them anxious and nervous, and that causes them to stutter more,” Wicks said.
Both the mother and son hope by writing about a character who stutters, they can help shed some light for people who are not well versed on stuttering.
“We as non-stutters have to be sympathetic or empathetic enough to wait however long it takes without finishing his sentences, without breaking eye contact, without telling him to slow down,” Garvin said.
Every experience the book’s main character Oliver goes through is something Wicks himself has faced. In “When Oliver Speaks,” the young boy faces the challenge of public speaking for a class, and Wicks and Garvin included stuttering dialogue throughout the story. The book is about Oliver’s journey to face his fears and find confidence in himself with the help of his mother.
The book took shape through a series of discussions in the car and over burgers, Garvin said. The pair discussed their ideas, Garvin wrote and Wicks edited the book. Garvin said Wicks has a clear sense of Oliver’s voice and isn’t shy about discussing what he thinks Oliver should say or do.
Prior to submitting the book to a publisher in 2016, the pair held a focus group at the M. Allan Vogelson Regional Branch of the Camden County Library system. She said the positive feedback they got from the children they surveyed gave them the encouragement to submit the book to a publisher in June 2016.
Garvin said the response has been overwhelmingly positive since the book’s debut last month. She said both children and adults alike have told the pair that Oliver has helped open their eyes.
“If you’re not a person who stutters and you have a disability or a child with a disability, Oliver kind of sets the path in how you can approach it and embrace it,” Garvin said.
Looking forward, Wicks said he wants to pursue his passion for basketball as a career, but he foresees transforming Oliver into an ongoing series about the lessons he learned between ages 7 and 9. He said if he had a book like this when he was a child, it would have shown him he wasn’t alone.
“Younger me was always looking for things that would boost my confidence, and knowing that there was someone out there who had experienced what i’ve been going through would have definitely opened my eyes to the world,” Wicks said.
“When Oliver Speaks” is available for purchase online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Visit https://www.facebook.com/LLLetMeFinish/ for more information on “Lllet me Finish.”
