Offering resources for treating and coping with childhood stuttering and developing state-of-the-art continuing education opportunities are just a few of the ways the Stuttering Foundation seeks to fulfill its mission.
Easy access to these resources is critically important and achieved through several means, including the Foundation's website, www.stutteringhelp.org and toll-free Hotline on Stuttering, 1-800-992-9392. In addition, the materials can be found in over 4,000 public libraries in the United States and Canada - and a list of these libraries is available at www.stutteringhelp.org.
The Foundation's books and videos on the school-age child who stutters are among the most-requested of all its resources. Those specifically targeted for parents include If Your Child Stutters: A Guide for Parents and Stuttering & Your Child: Questions and Answers, both available in Spanish and French and the video Stuttering And Your Child: A Videotape for Parents. These resources discuss the early signs of stuttering and offers parents suggestions on how to make talking easier for young children.
The Foundation is currently producing a new videotape for parents titled Stuttering: The Preschool Child: Help for Parents and Families, expected to be available in October, 2000. A number of brochures for parents and teachers are also available including "The Child who Stutters at School: Notes to the Teacher" which was updated in August, 2000, with new tips for teachers and information on how to handle teasing.
There are also materials specifically for speech-language pathologists working with children who stutter. Dr. Carl Dell's Treating the School-Age Child Who Stutters: A Guide for Clinicians has been updated and printed in a second edition in September, 2000.
A video, Therapy in Action: The School-Age Child who Stutters covers the various forms of stuttering a school-age child might exhibit as well as different components of therapy.
A video series called Practical Ideas for the School Clinician is composed of six presentations made at the Foundation's annual two-day conference for school clinicians. Currently, the Stuttering Foundation is developing self-study materials to accompany this set of tapes so that speech pathologists can earn ASHA CEUs.
Books for health care professionals include The Child who Stutters: To the Pediatrician or To the Health Care Provider.
A wonderful new book, Sometimes I Just Stutter is written from the perspectives of several children who stutter. It discusses topics such as teasing, dealing with the reactions of others, why stuttering is variable across time and speaking situations, and talking with family members about stuttering. The full text of this book is also available on the Foundation's website, both in English and in Italian.
For teens, a video, Do You Stutter: Straight Talk for Teens, and companion book, Do You Stutter: A Guide for Teens provide insight and information on common challenges facing teens who stutter.
Believing one of the best ways to support children who stutter is through increasing the skills of those who serve them, the Stuttering Foundation sponsors several types of continuing education opportunities for clinicians.
An annual two-day conference is held each June, focusing on practical strategies for working with school-age children. A unique feature of this particular conference is the inclusion of two small-group sessions led by a conference presenter and a group facilitator, both being expert clinicians in stuttering allowing attendees the opportunity to practice various speech modification tools.
If clinicians are interested in furthering their skills, they may apply to one of three five-day workshops. These intensive workshops are held annually in Seattle, WA; Wichita, KS; and Greensboro, NC or Boston, MA. Twenty clinicians are selected for participation in each of these workshops and receive in-depth, hands-on training in best practices for diagnosis and treatment.
For clinicians interested in an even more in-depth workshop, the Foundation will again be sponsoring a two-week workshop with Northwestern University in July, 2001.
Being able to easily access all of the Foundation's resources is critical. The Stuttering Foundation maintains a webpage, www.stutteringhelp.org, which includes the full text of all brochures, the full text of Sometimes I Just Stutter in English and Italian, a worldwide referral list of speech-language pathologists who specialize in treating stuttering, and other types of information.
Visitors to the webpage can print out the Foundation's catalog of materials. Those who wish to order resources from the Stuttering Foundation can either mail the order form to Stuttering Foundation of America, 3100 Walnut Grove Rd., Suite 603, Memphis, TN 38111, or they can call toll free 1-800-992-9392. The Stuttering Foundation now accepts credit card payment (Visa or Mastercard) for orders taken over the phone or mailed.