SELF-HELP WORKBOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO STUTTER

Michael Sugarman, M.S.W., M.B.A.

Available through the
National Stuttering Project
5100 East LaPalma Ave.
Anaheim Hills, CA 92807

A Review by
Eugene B. Cooper, Ed.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Communicative Disorders
The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487


From the workbook's warm and uplifting Preface written by John Ahlbach, former Executive Director of the nation's leading self-help organization for those who stutter (the National Stuttering Project) to this 23 page spiral-bound adult self-help manual's last page, the reader is caught-up in a spirit of "can-do." While confronting head-on the typical fears and frustrations of those who stutter in well-written and insightful prose, the author introduces a series of questions to which the user is asked to respond in writing in spaces provided in the manual. In answering the questions, the thinking of the person who stutters is focused on critical cognitive and affective features of stuttering syndromes which must be addressed if the individual is to successfully cope with stuttering.

Written by a person who stutters who, although not a speech-language pathologist, has devoted much of his life to helping those who stutter(he is a co-founder of the National Stuttering Project and recently was named its Executive Director), the workbook has many uses. I recommend the "Self-Help Workbook for People Who Stutter" highly, not only for those who stutter, but those who provide therapy for those who stutter. The workbook's focus on the affective and cognitive components of stuttering syndromes, unfortunately, is missing in too many of today's fluency treatment programs. This self-help workbook can assist clinicians in addressing feelings and attitudes critical to the successful management of stuttering. We are indebted to Michael Sugarman for this clinically useful contribution.



This workbook is available for $5.00 plus $2.00 for shipping. Please make out your check to the National Stuttering Project.

added April 8, 1996