Abseiling

The raft we built...

'Natural art' workshop.

BSA Scotland secured £13,250 from BBC Children in Need to deliver an intensive course for children who stammer, aged 10-14, during the school summer holidays 2007.

The course was held at an outdoor activity centre in Argyll from 5-10 August. Twenty-four free places were offered to children and early teens from all across Scotland (Grampian, Ayrshire, Perthshire, Fife, Lothians, Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Highlands and more). In the event, and to our surprise, all participants were boys this time around!

The course combined outdoor activities with sessions on communication skills, positive thinking, problem solving, strategies for dealing with stammering, high school transition and teasing and bullying.

We hoped participants would become more confident all round communicators who would feel able to express themselves more freely and participate more fully. We did not focus narrowly on fluency as a measure of individual success, as this can be easy to establish but hard to sustain following intensive therapy.

There is more on the course below, but first some of the feedback from the children, parents and therapists.

Feedback from children and young people

"It has made a big difference in my life. I came here with quite a bad stammer, but ever since I've been here and met new people who stammer like me, it has made me feel more confident. I used to think that I was the only one who stammered. I wasn't too confident when I spoke out. But now, 'cos I see other people who stammer, I know I'm not the only person out there who stammers."

"I have learned hundreds of useful things. It has all been very exciting. I have made lots of friends. It has helped a lot with my speech. It's been the best holiday of my life and I hope it can happen again."

"I have learned how to control my stammer better in group situations. We had fun and made loads of friends and I really enjoyed the group work to learn to control my stammer better."

Feedback from parents

"I am writing on behalf of my husband and I to thank you for giving our son the opportunity to attend the BSA Scotland Summer 'Scool. He enjoyed the week so much - he came back like a new boy and has so much confidence. Our family and friends cannot believe the difference in him since he came back. He enjoyed meeting other boys the same as him and doesn't feel alone anymore. The timing of the course was superb for him starting secondary school. I hope that this sort of thing can get funded on a yearly basis to benefit others. There is not much in our area for boys who stammer and it was very interesting for us as parents, to meet with other parents and share our experiences at the pre- and post-course events..."

"The children did activities together outside of speech therapy that allowed them to see that stammerers are just normal kids and that the stammer need not hold them back in life. Our son was delighted to mix with so many boys who stammered as he sometimes feels like 'the only one' here in Aberdeen!"

"My son had a wonderful time at Summer 'Scool. As well as speaking much more fluently he has grown in confidence and will now order for himself in a restaurant, for example. He loves practising his new sliding techniques and we can't get a word in edgeways! He loves telling jokes now and it is fantastic to see him so happy."

"My son has become a more confident person, being away from home and realising that he was not alone with all the difficulties that go along with stammering. He has certainly grown up and his self esteem has improved dramatically. He has also become more confident in applying strategies learnt at the course in his every day speech."

"I was very impressed with the Summer 'Scool. My son had a fantastic time and returned a more confident boy with marked improvements in his stammering and plenty of strategies to cope in the future."

"While my son has benefited from attending weekly speech therapy sessions, the course gave a unique opportunity to learn these strategies in a fun and concentrated environment with other young people - I think this has helped him retain the techniques... He also had a great time, enjoyed all the activities and made some new friends!"

"I think that it is vital that there are future courses and that other children are given this fantastic opportunity. I would not hesitate to recommend this course to other parents of stammering children. Stammering is not life-threatening and as such does not attract much funding, but the negative effect it has on children's lives is heartbreaking and I hope that you are able to raise funds to run the course again.

Feedback from participating speech and language therapists

"I feel very fortunate to have been able to be a part of this first BSA Scotland Summer 'Scool. The team spirit, amongst therapists and participants, was delightful, as was the change in the boys. It just seems a shame this experience can't be offered to all young people with any kind of communication difficulty to help self-esteem and confidence."

"BSA Summer 'Scool was a fantastic learning experience for me as a speech and language therapist with no specialist knowledge of dysfluency. I came back to my department feeling confident in running my own groups for this caseload and inspired to make changes in service delivery!"

More on the course

The course aimed to build self-confidence and a positive sense of identity. Participants had the chance to shine across a range of outdoor activities and group games in a safe and supportive atmosphere in which there were no penalties for stammering. A typical day's timetable involved:

We targeted the 10-14 age range as it is an important time of transition - from primary to secondary school and from childhood to adolescence. First impressions and fitting in with peers are high priorities for this age group, and for the child/young person who stammers, being 'the only one' in your class, school or social group can lead to low self esteem and the beginnings of social withdrawal. The sessions on dealing with teasing and bullying were very constructive. Participants brainstormed collective strategies and gained practical experience of handling comments through role play. Combining stammering therapy and outdoor activities was very productive as we were able to draw analogies between how participants managed their fears during the outdoor activities and how they might approach speaking situations.

Eleven speech and language therapists from across Scotland, plus BSA Scotland staff member Jan Anderson were involved in running the communication skills/speech therapy component of the programme. The team was led by Liz O'Connell, team leader of the paediatric dysfluency service for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Seven therapists were present at any one time. The opportunity for specialist teamwork is very attractive to therapists in Scotland who want to develop their expertise to better support young Scots who stammer.

Participating children and young people are completing rating scales and questionnaires to evaluate the impact of the course and these will be analysed and reported in due course.

Jan Anderson, October 2007