Libraries across the nation, including Gardiner Public Library, are stepping up to help the Stuttering Foundation reach those who stutter, their families, teachers, coworkers and employers. Everyone should know about the condition, how to talk with someone who stutters, and how to help them succeed.

Each year during National Stuttering Awareness Week, the second full week in May, libraries make a display of the books and DVDs they have available on stuttering. In the past some libraries have included a display of authors who stuttered along with a poster www.stutteringhelp.org.

Authors who stuttered include Jorge Luis Borges, Lewis Carroll, Calvert Casey, Scott Damian, Charles Darwin, Margaret Drabble, Dominick Dunne, John Gregory Dunne, Robert A. Heinlein, Edward Hoagland, Phillip Larkin, Somerset Maugham, David Mitchell, Alan Rabinowitz, Jane Seymour, Marc Shell, Neville Shute, John Updike and Vince Vawter.

With the help of donors, the 67-year-old nonprofit Stuttering Foundation is able to offer books and DVDs free to any public library. The Foundation has provided free materials to over 8,700 libraries nationwide. The offer includes books “Advice to Those Who Stutter,” “Self-Therapy for the Stutterer,” “Stuttering and Your Child,” “Do You Stutter: A Guide for Teens” and DVDs “Stuttering and Your Child: Help for Parents,” “Straight Talk for Teachers,” “Straight Talk for Teens,” “If You Stutter: Advice for Adults” and “Therapy in Action: The School-Age Child Who Stutters.” Any public library who has not received an email and would like to know about the offer, should email info@stutteringhelp.org, call 800-992-9392, or write to P.O. Box 11749; Memphis, TN 38111.