Advice to Those Who Stutter: Available at Local Library

Contact: Jane Fraser
info@stutteringhelp.org

Over three million Americans stutter. Stuttering affects their lives in many ways. They deal daily with embarrassment and frustration. Help is available at the [Name] Public Library in [City], [State] in the form of a book Advice to Those Who Stutter.

Advice to Those Who Stutter, a 158 page book, gives practical advice written by 24 men and women speech pathologists who themselves stutter, advising what helped them and what they believe will help others control their difficulty.

Stuttering Foundation of America books are directed to parents of children who stutter, adults who stutter, speech pathologists, pediatricians, family physicians, nurses, health care professionals, hospitals, schools, clinics, day-care centers, and all those concerned with the problem of stuttering. Since the original publication, Foundation books and brochures have reached millions of individuals worldwide. The 60-year-old nonprofit foundation also offers many brochures and DVDs on stuttering.

Advice to Those Who Stutter is being distributed free of charge to public libraries nationwide. For more information about how to obtain a copy of this book, contact the Stuttering Foundation at info@stutteringhelp.org, call toll-free 800-992-9392, or visit us at www.stutteringhelp.org or www.tartamudez.org. (Spanish site)

CELEBRITY FOCUS

Mel Tillis

Mel Tillis, born Lonnie Melvin Tillis, was an influential figure in country music, both as a songwriter and a performer. His journey to fame was marked by overcoming personal challenges, including a stutter that he turned into a defining part of his public persona.

Jack Paar

While Jack Paar is among the most prominent of the entertainers on the Stuttering Foundation’s list of Famous People Who Stutter, he deserves special recognition as he was among the first to openly address his stuttering in public. As host of The Tonight Show from 1957-1962, he spoke of his difficulties as a stuttering child and teenager, giving hope to young people.

Byron Pitts

Byron Pitts has brought much attention to stuttering with his memoir, Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life’s Challenges, released in September, 2009. The book not only details his speech difficulties, but also his illiteracy until age 12 and his unstable family life. Pitts overcame the odds to become the chief national correspondent with ABC News.

Kenyon Martin

Kenyon Martin, the basketball sensation who was named to the NBA’s All Star Team in 2004, joins other famous people who stutter in a new brochure. The brochure - which unfolds into a small poster - is available free of charge from The Stuttering Foundation.

The poster is intended to give children and adults who stutter inspiration as they grapple with their speech disorder.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.