THE

STUTTERINGFOUNDATIONPUBLICATION NO. 0034

®

Troub le at Recess

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Trouble at RecessPublication No. 0034

Published by

Stuttering Foundation of America

ISBN 0-933388-60-1

Copyright © 2008-2014 by Stuttering Foundation of America

The Stuttering Foundation of America is a nonprofit charitable organizationdedicated to the prevention and treatment of stuttering. Contributions aretax deductible.

Printed in the United States of America.

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The initial goal of writing a story was to help Jamie developa positive awareness of differences in people, and a positiveawareness of stuttering. She had a good friend at school

who wore hearing aids and she started the story about twofriends, one with hearing aids and one who stuttered. The bookwas written and illustrated over a period of months and Jamiewas able to talk about some of her feelings about stuttering. We“researched” stuttering by reading books and watching the videoStuttering: For Kids, By Kids from the Stuttering Foundation ofAmerica. We learned about teasing, and the plot of Trouble atRecess was formed. Topics such as: what makes a good friend,what to do if you are teased, and what to tell people about stut-tering were discussed. Jamie was very excited that her book mighthelp other people who stutter and teach kids about stuttering.

Julie Gasway, M.A., CCC-SLPJanuary 2008

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Ded icated to my fam i ly .

Jam ie , 8 years o ld

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This is Mo l ly . She is 5 years o ld . Shel i kes to p lay ins ide w ith her do l ly .

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Mol ly has many friends. She l ikes to playwith them at their houses or at her house.

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Mol ly is good at schoo l work , tak ing careof her th ings , shar ing , be ing a goodsport , fo l low ing the ru les , and vo lunteer-ing . She is a wonderfu l daughter, s ister ,and an ath lete .

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Somet imes Mo l ly stutters . When she does ,it sounds l i ke : “Mom-mom-mom” ; “ l - -----ike” ; “p-p-p-party” ; “m-----------outh . ”

When Mo l ly ’s fr iends ask her why shestutters , Mo l ly says , “I don ’t know .Maybe it ’s just the way I was born . ”

“Somet imes my st utter i n g i s n ’ t a snot iceab le . We don ’t know why it comesand goes . ”

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Mol ly has a fr iend named Kate . Katewears hear ing a ids to he lp her hear .That is the way she was born . Kate is6 years o ld .

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Kate and Mo l ly are the best jump ropersin c lass . They can jump longer and h igherthan anyone e lse . Kate and Mo l ly can evendoub le dutch .

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Mol ly and Kate are in k indergarten w ithMrs . Conrad . Mrs . Conrad has b lond ha irand a n ice sm i le . She has da i ly jobs fora l l the ch i ldren .

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One of the da i ly jobs in k indergarten is“ca lendar .” It was Mo l ly ’s turn to te l lthe c lass the da i ly events . She openedher mouth and started to say : “th is onegoes there” but she got bumpy on theword “there” and it sounded l i ke th is :“th is one goes th-------------ere . ”

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Mol ly fe lt horr ib le because she thoughtthat she wou ld get teased because shehas never had bumpy speech at schoo lbefore . She f in ished her job and ran toher desk . None of the ch i ldren sa id any-th ing yet …

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At recess that day Mo l ly and Kate werepract ic ing jump rope .

A boy named J im stopped the rope whenMo l ly was jump ing . He sa id , “Ha ! Ha ! Youhave bumps in your speech . ”

Kate got mad and sa id , “Don ’t you messwith my fr iend , because I ’ l l te l l theteacher .”

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Mol ly was so sad she wa lked away fromthe p layground w ith Kate . They stoodbeh ind the tree unt i l recess was over .

After recess Mol ly and Kate told Mrs.Conrad about J im and what he said toMol ly . Mrs . Conrad told J im never to makefun of anyone again . J im apolog ized to Mol ly .

Kate shouted to Mrs . Conrad , “No ! Youshou ld send h im to the Pr inc ipa l ’s off iceor suspend h im . ”

Mrs . Conrad to ld Kate she needed to set-t le down and then she sa id , “Kate , it ’snot that b ig of a dea l . ”

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Inside, Mol ly thought it was k ind of a bigdeal . She asked Mrs. Conrad if she could goto see the school gu idance counselor, Mrs.Acrobat . Mrs. Conrad gave Mol ly and Katea pass to go to Mrs. Acrobat’s off ice .

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Mol ly and Kate to ld Mrs . Acrobat aboutthe teas ing . Together they made a p lan .Mo l ly , Kate , and Mrs . Acrobat w i l l l earnabout stutter ing , and they wi l l make apresentat ion to Mo l ly ’s c lass .

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Mol ly found out that :

1) Al l people are differ-ent, they do some thingswel l and other things notso wel l .

2) We don ’t know exact ly what causessome ch i ldren to stutter .

3) Th ings that can he lp k ids who stutterare :

a ) L isten to what we say .b ) Don ’t tease , keep your own fee l -

ings in m ind , we a l l have fee l i ngs .c ) It is okay to ask quest ions about

stutter ing , but do it po l ite ly .d ) Treat us l i ke everyone e lse .e ) No one shou ld interrupt or f in ish

words for anyone e lse .

Mo l ly and Kate wanted to do a presenta-t ion to the c lass about stutter ing .

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They talked to Mrs.Conrad and set adate. Al l the chi ldrensat in a circle andMolly and Kate gavethe presentation. J imsat in the front, andhe l istened careful ly.

Mo l l y had a l i t t l ebumpy speech dur ingher ta lk about stut-t er i n g . The schoo ls p e ech patho l o g i s tshowed a mov i e aboutstutter ing to the c lass .

Mol ly felt okay about stuttering in frontof the class. She was happy she could dothe presentation . Mol ly answered a fewquestions, and some of them were from Jim.

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One of the quest ions was – When d id youstart stutter ing?

Mo l ly sa id , “I started at the age of 3 .”

Another quest ion was – What d id yourmom and dad do to he lp you?

Mol ly sa id , “They tried to he lp me by say-ing th ings s lowly themse lves . They a lsol istened to what I sa id , not how I sa id it .That was the most important th ing . ”

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Things to do to he lp :1 . L isten .2 . Be k ind .3 . Treat us l i ke everyone .

Th ings NOT to do :1 . Don ’t look away .2 . Don ’t te l l me to s low down .3 . Don ’t f i l l i n words .4 . Don ’t make fun of me .

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J im asked , “How do youstutter?”

Mo l ly demonstrated howshe stutters by ask ingMrs . Conrad a quest ion . She demonstrat-ed how she stretches her words : “M----------------Mrs . Conrad , can I go to thebathroom?”

Mo l ly exp la ined that a l itt le stretch in aword is when she ho lds onto a sound al itt le longer than the other sounds . Shea lso showed J im how peop le can say thesame word two or three t imes .

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“I – I – I th ink I need g lasses . I can ’tsee that we l l . ”

The who le c lass understood .

After the presentat ion , the k ids wentout for recess except for Mo l ly .

Mrs . Conrad wanted to thank Mo l ly fordo ing the presentat ion . Mo l ly and Kateta lked to Mrs . Conrad and then theywent outs ide too .

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Some of Mo l ly ’s fr iends ran up to her andto ld her what a good job she d id exp la in-ing about stutter ing .

Mo l ly fe lt happy and good ins ide . A l l ofthe g ir ls went to the fort house to p lay .

After school Mol ly ran home to tel l hermom about the presentation . Her mom gaveher a big hug and said , “I’m real ly proudof you . Should we go out for a treat?”

Mol ly and her mom ce lebrated at the mal l !

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That n ight Mo l ly to ld her dad about howbrave she was . Mo l ly ’s dad sa id , “I ’mproud of you , too ! When I was l itt le Istuttered too . ”

Then Mo l ly and her dad ta lked aboutstutter ing . But then Mom sa id it was t imefor bed .

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Mol ly brushed her teeth , washed herface , went to the bathroom, put on herpajamas and Daddy tucked her in . Mo l lyknew that she cou ld a lways ta lk to Daddyabout anyth ing – even stutter ing .

Her daddy told her stories as she fel lasleep. Mol ly was real ly excited for tomor-row. She was sure that she could makemistakes or bumps, and it would be okay.

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Jam ie is 8 years o ld .She l i kes to do schoo lwork and write stor ies .In her free t ime shesw ims and cooks . Shetakes dance lessons andice-skat ing lessons . Shel i ves at home with herparents and s ister andher f ish , D iamond . Whenshe grows up , she wantsto be a counse lor .

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STUTTERINGFOUNDATION�

THE

A Nonprofit OrganizationSince 1947—Helping Those Who Stutter

P.O. Box 11749 • Memphis, TN 38111-0749

info@stutteringhelp.org

800-992-9392www.stutteringhelp.org www.tartamudez.org

Meet Swishand friends,stars ofStuttering : For Kids, By Kids!

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ISBN 0-933388-60-1

9 7 8 0 9 3 3 3 8 8 6 0 4

THE

STUTTERINGFOUNDATION

P.O. Box 11749 • Memphis, TN 38111-0749

800-992-9392 901-452-7343www.stutteringhelp.org

www.tartamudez.org

®

A Nonprofit OrganizationSince 1947—Helping Those Who Stutter

ISBN 0-933388-60-1

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