Stacy's Letter

The following letter was written in response to the above Ann Landers column by a student in a Seminar on Stuttering at Minnesota State University, Mankato. It was published in August, 1999.

Dear Ann Landers: You printed a letter about a home remedy for stutterers that consisted of reading out loud while clenching one's teeth. Although this may help some people, a lot of other home remedies cost consumers thousands of dollars and accomplish nothing. Please pass along this information to your readers:

Be cautious of any stuttering therapy program that guarantees fluency. No one can guarantee that any particular technique will "cure" stuttering.
Be aware of expensive programs that claim participants will become "completely fluent." Very few of these programs have been proven effective.
Those who stutter should not blame themselves when home remedies fail to work. Although some may benefit from a home remedy, they do not work for everyone. It is, however, worth a try.
Stuttering is unique for each individual. Those who stutter may benefit from seeing a speech-language pathologist who has at least a master's degree in speech pathology, a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and specializes in stuttering.

Anyone who wants legitimate information should contact the Stuttering Foundation of America, P. O. Box 11749, Memphis, Tenn. 38111-0749, or the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 10801 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md. 20852 (www.asha.org). -- Stacy in Mankato, Minn.

added September 11, 1999