Vondell Pilcher Goes Beyond the Stutter

Vondell Pilcher led monthly support groups for people with stutters at the Healthy Development Community Clinic during his time at SJSU. Photo: Robert C. Bain.

For Vondell Pilcher, ’23 BS, ’25 MS Speech Language Pathology, few accomplishments are as important as helping others find their voices. As a child with a stutter growing up in Alaska, he learned at a young age not to make assumptions about others based on their speech or communication skills.

“I got bullied a lot; teachers would ask me to read aloud and kids would make fun of me,” he says. “High school was brutal, and I got in trouble a lot because I was trying to hide who I was.”

Stuttering is a speech disorder characterized by the repetition of sounds, syllables or words, as well as occasional interruptions or prolonged pauses. Pilcher explains that it’s impossible to predict when or why he might stutter, though stress and anxiety can contribute to difficulties in communicating. As a child, he didn’t have access to speech therapy or other resources that might have helped him in the classroom, as well as out in the world. It wasn’t until he moved to California to play football at a community college that he hit his breaking point.

“I played quarterback, and quarterbacks are the main communicators on the team,” he says. “There was a specific game where I was stuttering a lot, so much that it started to affect my teammates. This was not peewee sports; this was college football, so I got benched.”

Heartbroken, Pilcher realized he needed help. “So much of my life, I didn’t have the tools to take my speech seriously. I relied on talent and will, but you can only do so much when you’re self-reliant. I was humbled. Getting benched was one of the hardest things, but it was also one of the greatest things, because it helped me find myself.” 

Pilcher Googled “speech clinics” and within 30 minutes, he walked into his very first speech therapy center. He was in his early 20s, and for the first time ever, he felt truly heard.

“I gained so much more confidence and security [from speech therapy], and I got to learn more about myself and where my stuttering came from,” he says. “The rest is history.”

Finding the flow

Not only did speech therapy help him understand stuttering, but it offered him a clear purpose: to use his experience to help others. Pilcher transferred to San José State in 2021 to major in speech pathology and audiology. He started volunteering at the Healthy Development Community Clinic (HDCC) at Oak Grove High School, a free clinic staffed by SJSU faculty members, students and volunteers that offered a variety of healthcare services to local families. Pilcher became a fixture when he created Free Flow, a monthly support group for children who stutter.

Pilcher at the HDCC. Photo courtesy of Vondell Pilcher.

“I really wanted to build an inclusive program where kids can learn from adults, teens, parents [and practitioners], and get a chance to just flow,” he says, explaining that “flow” in speech represents a special kind of freedom for people who stutter. “It was a great environment because I used my experiences to serve others. I also wanted a space for kids who stutter but who may not have access to speech therapy because they didn’t have health insurance. I wanted to create a space where people can learn tools and network.”

Through Free Flow, Pilcher collaborated with speech therapists at Stanford, who visited SJSU to share additional resources for parents and families. He also connected with Antoine Albert, who also played college football and lives with a stutter. They partnered to create Beyond the Stutter, a podcast that shines a light on their experiences with stuttering, as well as the resources and tools they’ve found helpful. 

One resource Pilcher is building is aimed at educating law enforcement officers about people who stutter. He has never forgotten getting pulled over by an officer when driving home late from work, and how when he revealed that he had a stutter, the officer did not know how to best support him.

“I took a mental note from that situation that sometimes law enforcement are not trained to deal with real communication challenges,” he says. “Law enforcement officers impact our world and they keep us safe, but if they’re not educated or aware of communication challenges that individuals have in order to accommodate them and make them feel safe, then they’re not going to be equipped to do the work they need to do.”

After he completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees in speech pathology, Pilcher started reaching out to various law enforcement and city agencies to see if they’d be interested in offering specialized training on speech and communication. Starting this fall, he’s partnering with a Bay Area department to offer his expertise as a speech therapist. He is hopeful that the resources he shares will assist law enforcement officers when they encounter people with stutters or other communication challenges. 

He credits SJSU with preparing him with the tools needed to discover his passion.

“San José State has created a blueprint to help me find purpose, in the sense of who I’m going to serve and who I can become,” he says. “It’s taught me to identify which skills, personal traits and life experiences I can use to benefit others.”

Learn more about the Communicative Disorders and Sciences Department at SJSU.