A new resource for teachers by the Michael Palin Centre was launched today, 20th October. Ed Balls also announced money towards a new specialist centre in the north of England. BSA Chief Executive Norbert Lieckfeldt was at the event.

The SIP consists of two DVDs of children and young people who stammer, talking to camera and explaining to teachers how stammering affects them, and how teachers can help them in class. There was a lot of courage and emotion on display, and also quite a few stars in the making - and I sat there thinking that if I had been asked at their age to do something like this, I would have run a mile (or 1.6 km, as I was living on the Continent then).

These DVDs are the result of painstaking research undertaken by the Michael Palin Centre into what children and young people who stammer think are the crucial messages to pass on to their teachers.

They will be used to raise awareness of stammering and the impact it can have on a child's emotional well-being and educational achievement amongst education staff. They dovetail rather well with the training resources put together by the BSA which will be launched on a website later this year - these are the updated school CDs produced for England and Scotland in 2003 and 2006 with detailed support strategies for the class room and which will be made available on-line.

New Northern Centre

Ed Balls also announced further funding, an extra £500,000 to secure not only the future services of the Michael Palin Centre for children in the South of England who are affected by stammering, but also for the development of another specialist Centre for Stammering Children in the North of England, provisionally planned to be based in West Yorkshire.

Some of this money will form the basis of a fundraising appeal to be launched next year, and Ed Balls said that he's had confirmation just this morning from the Palace that HRH The Prince of Wales has very kindly agreed to become the Patron for the Appeal.

All in all, a very good day for children in England who stammer!

Norbert Lieckfeldt,
20th October, 2009

Further boost for North of England stammering centre - 2nd March 2010
BSA Press Release: Michael Palin Centre and Stammering Information Programme
DCSF press release
Teachers TV report of the launch, and two minute interview with Cherry Hughes, our education officer. You can view the videos online.