Bar mitzvah inspires
I found “Piano is key to stutterer’s bar mitzvah success” (Nov. 23) inspiring. The important event of the bar or bat mitzvah is definitely stressful for young people who stutter; it certainly was for me. It was great to read this unique story.
I would like to mention a few important organizations. The first one is the Jewish Stuttering Association, which addresses the needs of people who stutter in the Jewish community. Also, I find the site of the Israeli Stuttering Association to be both helpful and inspiring. Another great site is that of the Stuttering Foundation, stutteringhelp.org, because it offers free resources to children, adults, and parents. It provides streaming videos, downloadable brochures, a national directory of qualified speech therapists, and more. Personally, I like the foundation’s global outreach to more than 130 countries, the majority of which are underdeveloped and where speech therapy is either outdated or non-existent.
Stuttering does not discriminate. One percent of adults worldwide struggle with stuttering, while about 5 percent of children stutter at some point in their development. These statistics apply to the Jewish community as well.
Marvin Goldfarb
Bronx
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