Action for Stammering Children
Action for Stammering Children is a charity founded in 1989 whose purpose is to support children, young people and their families throughout the UK who stammer, by ensuring that they have access to effective services and support to help them meet the challenges created by their stammer, enabling them to live happy and fulfilling lives despite suffering from this debilitating condition.
The Charity achieves this through helping to fund assessments, therapy and the training of speech and language therapists (things that the NHS will not fund) at the world renown Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in London, in addition to the numerous other projects and initiatives across the country.
The Peter Sowerby Foundation awarded Action for Stammering Children A grant of £26,900 over one year towards ‘Talking Out’, a residential for 20 children with moderate to severe stammering at Bewerley Park, North Yorkshire.
The aims of the residential were to develop
• Confidence in communicating
• A more positive attitude to speaking.
• To decrease sensitivity to stammering.
• Problem solving and self-help skills.
• Positive thinking skills.
• A peer support network.
This report provides evidence that the ‘Talking Out’ residential has a significant positive impact on the way that participants feel about their stammer and the ability to talk. This is vitally important as teenagers who stammer are at increased risk of low self-confidence and associated problems due to stammering.
This has far reaching implication to their school achievement and future prospects. Furthermore, the feedback data reviewed indicated that participants and their parents feel that the intervention has had an extremely positive effect on their quality of life. The main areas in which change is reported are:
• Increasing self confidence in general
• Increasing confidence in talking
• Reducing negative self-reactions to stammering
• Developing a peer group of people who stammer
• Reduced feelings of isolation
• Learning more about stammering.
Providing an intervention which increases confidence and reduces isolation is crucial to allow teenagers who stammer to lead full, happy lives in which they can meet their potential.