The Stuttering Foundation

Stuttering. This often misunderstood disability affects over three million Americans. Little is known about its cause or causes.

Much is known, however, about what helps—and in this The Stuttering Foundation plays an important role both in the prevention of stuttering in children and in improving treatment for adults.

As the oldest nonprofit organization in its field, The Stuttering Foundation is recognized worldwide as an authoritative source of information. It is engaged on every front, from supporting basic and clinical research to genetic mapping and raising public awareness.

The Foundation provides services, support and help to all those who stutter and their families, answering some 24,000 calls a year through its national toll-free helpline, 800-992-9392. And responds to thousands of e-mails at info@stutteringhelp.org.

The Foundation’s reach extends internationally through its Web sites, www.stutteringhelp.org and www.tartamudez.org; its training conferences, workshops and symposia; and the distribution of more than 800,000 publications annually to 101 countries throughout the world.

Now, the Foundation is extending its reach into the future, as it supports research to discover the under-lying causes of stuttering and new treatments.

The history of the Foundation is the story of how one person with a significant stutter led a successful life and made a lasting difference in the lives of others with the same disorder.

In 1947, Malcolm Fraser, a young man from Memphis, Tennessee, knew about stuttering from personal, often painful experience. He decided to do what he could to help others who stutter, and met with one of the foremost authorities of the day, Dr. Charles Van Riper, to discuss founding a nonprofit charitable organization.

The organization Fraser founded became today’s Stuttering Foundation of America. Its goal was to provide the best and most up-to-date information and help available for the prevention of stuttering in young children and the most effective treatment available for teenagers and adults.

Sixty years later, the Stuttering Foundation continues to pursue these same goals, although the tools to accomplish them are more varied and widespread. As it did when Malcolm Fraser turned his dream into reality, the Foundation dedicates itself to the contemporary concerns of those who stutter.

Services

4 Publishes 30 books, 43 videotapes and DVDs, 21 brochures for those who stutter, their families, speech-language pathologists, family physicians, pediatricians, hospitals, schools, clinics, and libraries.

4 Maintains a nationwide toll-free helpline, 800-992-9392, and two Web sites, www.stutteringhelp.org and www.tartamudez.org.

4 Maintains a nation-wide resource list of speech-language pathologists who specialize in stuttering treatment, and a nationwide list of public libraries that shelve Foundation books and videotapes.

4 Provides free information packets on stuttering to parents of young children, teens and adults. The packets include brochures, resource lists and contacts for support groups in their area.

4 Co-sponsors conferences and intensive training workshops for in-depth training in stuttering therapy.

4 Conducts an on-going public awareness campaign through press releases and public service advertisements to educate the public about stuttering.

4 Holds educational Conferences, Workshops and Symposia. From its inception, one of the primary goals of the Foundation has been to discuss and attempt to resolve the many questions surrounding stuttering. Through the years, the Foundation has met this challenge through a variety of educational meetings and seminars, including:

Intensive, week-long conferences during which authorities in the field create videotapes and books. New technologies are being pursued for more interactive media to help both clinicians and those who stutter.

Two-day symposia to educate professionals and to focus on a specific topic such as working with the school-age child.

Five-day intensive training workshops. These programs are co-sponsored by leading universities throughout the U.S.

Two-week programs for in-depth training: Stuttering Therapy: Workshop for Specialists. Co-sponsored for 15 years by Northwestern University, the program is now co-sponsored by the University of Iowa.

Publications

The Stuttering Foundation’s books, videotapes/DVDs and brochures are directed to all those concerned about stuttering, from parents to employers to professionals.

The 30 books, 43 videotapes and DVDs, and 21 brochures available today bring together current information and cover every phase of this complex disorder. Written by leading professionals in the field, Foundation publications have been translated into other foreign languages and many are used in speech pathology departments in universities around the country and the world.

Publications are shipped annually to 101 countries, and have reached over 10 million individuals. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the Foundation is able to make these publications available at a nominal cost.

Basic Research

The Foundation is turning its attention more and more to various facets of basic research in an effort to improve early detection and develop better therapies:

Brain Research

Neuroimaging studies have greatly enhanced the potential to understand brain-behavior relationships in complex behaviors such as speech and language. Recent studies by Dr. Anne Foundas, M.D., Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Tulane University, reveal evidence that anatomic anomalies may put an individual at risk for the development of stuttering. 

Genetic Research

Finding the genes involved in stuttering and understanding what they do in people who stutter and people who are normally fluent holds the promise of revealing some of the underlying causes of stuttering. The Foundation is actively involved in a project by Dr. Dennis Drayna of the National Institute on Deafness and other Communicative Disorders searching for genetic markers.

Public Awareness

An extensive public awareness campaign helps dispel misconceptions about stuttering, advises the public that help is available, and focuses attention on the latest research.

Press releases have resulted in thousands of stories in print and broadcast media, including CBS This Morning, The Today Show, and CNN. These stories in turn generate thousands of calls from people seeking help.

Public service announcements and advertisements featuring nationally-recognized spokespersons reach millions each year through the generosity of national, regional and local magazines, radio and television stations.

Web sites in English and Spanish contain information for the general public as well as specific help for those who stutter. The Foundation’s toll-free line is accessed by more than 24,000 callers each year.

Honors

The Foundation’s work has been widely recognized. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association gave its highest award, the Distinguished Service Award, to the Foundation for its “dedication and effective contributions to the field of speech pathology.”

Founder Malcolm Fraser received the National Council on Communicative Disorders Distinguished Service Award, and president Jane Fraser was recognized by her alma mater with the Centennial Distinguished Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award for her efforts on behalf of those who stutter.

Jane Fraser also received the prestigious Outstanding Contribution Award during the International Stuttering Association World Congress in Dubrovnik, Croatia, on May 9, 2007. In presenting the award to Fraser, Melvin Hoffman of ISA said, “No one has done more to further the cause of helping those who stutter.”