Danny & The Scatman. By Peter Nicks. PoN Productions, 29 Fairview Ave., Piedmont, CA 94610. For order information, contact: University of California Extension; Center for Media and Independent Learning; 2000 Center Street, Fourth Floor; Berkeley, CA 94704-1223; Phone: 510-642-0460; Fax: 510-643-9271; Email: cmil@uclink.berkeley.edu. Reviewed by James Montague, University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

This half-hour videotape is a documentary that primarily focuses on showing the everyday communication experiences of a young teenage boy who stutters. Interspersed throughout the video are comments and observations from a successful adult professional entertainer, "The Scatman," who also struggled to live with severe stuttering. Additional comments from the teenager's mother and his speech-language pathologist, as well as an interesting verbal interaction between the young teenager and his classroom teacher, are included.

The quality of the video is naturalistic with appropriate editing. It appears that none of the interactions were "staged" or made up, and they reflect real life communicative interactions of the teenager and "The Scatman." A major strength of this video is that it illustrates that teenagers who are severely dysfluent can engage in varied types of speech activities without avoidance behaviors.

This video could be used in initial therapy to provide some catharsis, understanding, and possible motivation for older children and younger teenagers who are dysfluent. It appears to parallel the "self-help-you're not alone" assistance provided by The National Stuttering Project and other self-help groups. There are some short segments of the tape that provide good samples of accessory characteristics, and these could be useful in educational training programs to assist clinicians in the quantifying and qualifying of secondary stuttering behaviors.