Bringing fluency to young people’s speech – the Swindon way

In October 2010 the box office hit The King’s Speech put stammering right in the headlines by showing how George VI struggled with public speaking – and overcame his stammer. Then, last month, the final episode of the popular Channel 4 series Educating Yorkshire caused a social media storm when student Musharaf Asghar suddenly overcame his stammer, found his voice and addressed a school assembly.

Away from the headlines and the TV screen, for many young people treatment of their stammer is a daily, year round struggle. The money local authorities spend on speech therapy varies from region to region and often faces cuts.

In Swindon the Council’s very active team of speech and language therapists is supported by the Fluency Trust.  This local charity was set-up especially to meet the evident needs of stammerers and of the speech and language therapists who want to help them, by supporting intensive, residential courses for young stammerers.

The Fluency Trust has been running intensive, residential courses since 1995 helping young people to overcome the difficulties that stammering can cause. Their courses are unique in combining intensive speech therapy with outdoor pursuits.

They have proved that the combination of challenging outdoor activities and intensive therapy is highly effective in developing confidence and enabling young people to manage their stammer positively.  Four speech and language therapists in Swindon are part of the team that runs the courses.

This treatment regime led to the development of the award-winning Swindon Fluency Packs which have become a popular resource for speech and language therapists across the country.

Following an assessment day for each stammerer, the Trust’s courses are held in Devon during the summer – next year it has three courses planned. The Trust hires Skern Lodge near Bideford which specialises in outdoor activities and has a highly-trained staff.

The Fluency Trust pays for Skern Lodge, travel and living costs.  Each stammerer’s local authority pays for the therapy sessions.

The courses are at two levels: the ‘Blockbusters’ course is for 10-12 year-olds and the ‘Teen Challenge’ is for 13-17 year-olds.  Each course last five days and parents are encouraged to join in at the start and end of each course.

They take stammerers from a wide area around Swindon and have taken one 14-year-old from as far away as Scotland. They also provide training workshops for professionals and parents.

The Fluency Trust is run by a committee of adults who stammer and local speech and language therapists.

Helping young stammerers is important – at the end of their school career a stammer can certainly narrow their job prospects. And writing about his role in Educating Yorkshire, final year student Musharaf explained that when his stammer was really serious he had been bullied at school.

Since the programmes were made Musharaf has gone onto college and he says his stammer was getting better every week: “Everyone at college gives me time, but I’m getting quicker anyway so they don’t miss their bus while they are listening. I still won’t be applying for call- centre jobs yet though.”

To raise funds for next year’s courses, the Fluency Trust are holding a Christmas Charity Ball on November 30 at the De Vere Hotel in Swindon.  There are still a few tickets left – ‘phone 07570 895632.  Or, if you cannot go, you could always give a prize for the auction or the raffle.