The Fluency Trust is a charity which funds outdoor adventure courses for young people who stammer, alongside intensive speech therapy funded by the NHS. Two courses are run annually, the Blockbuster course (9-13 year olds) and the Teens Challenge (14-17 year olds). Below is a parent's and child's (Joe) perspective on the Blockbuster course.

The Parent Story

Whilst Joe is a naturally extrovert and happy child and, we believe of above average intelligence, we noticed that his school work and reports rarely reflected this, except for his mathematics, and even this was not really commented upon by the teacher that he had at the time when his stammering deteriorated.

Joe had become a little introverted at school and did not particularly enjoy going there and we only saw the real Joe when he was in his element playing football for a local youth team where he was able to succeed and communicate with his feet rather than verbally.

Increasingly Joe was becoming frustrated and tended to focus too much on the negative and we felt that his stammering was getting in the way of his relationships with his teachers and stunting his educational development.

Once Joe started his speech therapy he was given various helpful techniques and particularly benefited from the group sessions and we saw a marked improvement in his fluency. Whilst this was all very positive and there was improvement in his school work and self-confidence we still noticed that when tired and excited or under stress the stammer would return. Joe was not as bothered by this as before but it was clear that it still frustrated him.

When Joe returned from Blockbuster Fluency Course he was clearly very tired and excited. Driving him home from the course and during that evening he was stammering a little, but considering how much he was trying to tell us, this was not surprising. However, it is true to say, that since returning from Blockbusters Joe has been completely fluent and whilst he still speaks fairly quickly we do not notice him stammering. His confidence as a result of this has increased considerably and he has particularly benefited from the positive thinking ("cool thoughts" / "junk thoughts") strategy which had previously been quite a barrier for him.

'the confidence has spread into all aspects of his life including his school work'

We knew that Joe would enjoy the outdoor activities at Blockbusters but the confidence that undertaking these has given him e.g. overcoming his fear of heights, has spread into all aspects of his life including his school work.

Whilst his mathematics has continued to flourish, he is now reading more and has achieved 20/20 in his weekly spelling test for the last 6 weeks (something that would have been unheard of a few months ago).

Joe is more confident in communicating with children and adults and his relationships as a result are much better. Whilst Joe has won various awards for his football over the years, such as Manager's and Supporter's player of the year, this year he won Player's player of the year which I believe reflects, in part, the better relationships that he has developed with his teammates.

You might get the impression from this that Joe is now the perfect child, far from it, he still has his moments like every other developing child but at least now he is free to develop and be the person we know he can be without being held back by his stammering. We are also confident that should he have any future fluency setbacks, we all have the tools and confidence to deal with them.?

Joe's Story

"When I heard that I was going to go on the Blockbusters course I felt quite excited but a little nervous as I had never stayed away from my family before. I was also a little cautious about going because I only knew one other person who was going.

I was excited about doing some of the outdoor activities that I had seen on the presentation video, particularly the high ropes and the grass toboggans. I was also a bit nervous that I would have the worst stammer and that I might be homesick.

When we arrived at Mill on the Brue (outdoor activity centre) the staff were very friendly and greeted us as we got off the bus and we were shown where we would be sleeping.

Because everyone was so kind and friendly I soon settled in and was not that home sick any more.

It was great to meet other children who stammered the same way that I did and to work side by side with them to improve our fluency.

It was also lots of fun to be able to have a go at lots of new things that I had never done before and to find that I was quite good at some of them. With the support of the friends that I made I was also able to get over my fear of heights on the high ropes and climbing wall."

If you would like further information about the courses, please contact us:
Claire McNeil, Sarah Taylor, Alex Stewart and Beth Loveday.
Speech and Language Therapy Department
West Swindon Health Centre
Link Avenue
Swindon
SN5 7DL
Tel: 01793 877233

Or visit the BSA website's Fluency Trust courses page.

From the Winter 2007 edition of Speaking Out, pages 16-17