August 13, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 9 Help for children who stutter is as close as the library Stuttering is a frustrating and embar- rassing problem for millions of people, but it can be especially tough on elementary school-age children. Help is available for parents, teach- ers, and speech-language pathologists at most public libraries in the form of a DVD designed to help school-age children who stutter. Some libraries have an older video version. Local libraries that carry “Therapy in Action: The School-age Child Who Stut- ters” include the Midland Park Memorial Library, the Oakland Public Library, and the Ridgefield Park Public Library. “It’s meant to give speech-language pathologists the tools they need to deal with stuttering in this age group, but it also offers good ideas for parents and teachers,” said Professor Peter Ramig of the Univer- sity of Colorado at Boulder. Ramig is one of five nationally recognized experts appear- ing in the DVD produced by the nonprofit Stuttering Foundation. The DVD features students from grades one through six, some of whom talk about their experiences with stuttering. They talk openly about the teasing they face from classmates and how their stuttering some- times makes them feel about themselves. “We focus on demonstrating a variety of therapy strategies that are appropriate in working with children who stutter,” Ramig added. He appears in the DVD along sessions showing how stuttering can be reduced. “More than three million Americans stutter, yet stuttering remains misunder- stood by most people,” said Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation. “Myths such as believing people who stut- ter are less intelligent or suffer from psy- chological problems still persist despite research refuting these erroneous beliefs.” The 38-minute “Therapy in Action: The School-age Child Who Stutters” was pro- with speech-language pathologists Barry Guitar, Ph.D., of the University of Ver- mont; Hugo H. Gregory, Ph.D., and June Campbell, M.A., of Northwestern Univer- sity; and Patricia Zebrowski, P.D., of the University of Iowa. These five experts answer questions about stuttering, refute myths and miscon- ceptions, and present examples of therapy duced by the 67-year-old nonprofit Stutter- ing Foundation is available free of charge to public libraries nationwide. Other libraries that will shelve it may contact the Foundation at 1-800-992-9392, e-mail info@stutteringhelp.org, or visit www. stutteringhelp.org or www.tartarmudez. org. National Stuttering Awareness Week is the second week in May each year. Inter- national Stuttering Awareness Day is Oct. 22 each year.