Seeing life from all angles: The Easter Holiday's Camp gave nine young people in Greenwich the time to help each other to build new confidence.

During the Easter school holidays, nine young people who stammer gained extra confidence and skills in a new course in the London borough of Greenwich. Report by Tori Houghton, Frances Johnston and Lisa Thompson - Speech & Language Therapists, Greenwich Primary Care NHS Trust.

Additional funding from the Greenwich Education Authority has enabled the paediatric speech and language therapy service in Greenwich Primary Care NHS Trust to develop a dedicated speech and language therapy service to mainstream primary schools in the borough.

Once the service had been running for a short time, we realised that the speech and language therapy needs of young people who stammer would need additional input, beyond that which was delivered in schools as part of the mainstream service. We acknowledged how isolated children and young people who stammer often feel among their peer group and also the need to involve parents in the whole process.

To enable the young people to receive the additional therapy they required, we have plans to run groups during the school holidays. The first of these was held during the Easter holidays, involving nine students aged 10-12 years. The course focused on raising self-awareness skills through brainstorming and discussions, with a large focus on problem solving.

"I enjoyed the course because it was fun and no-one laughed at me." "I enjoyed the course because you know and feel you're not the only person that stammers." "I learnt how to handle what people say to me." "I learnt that there are different stutters and that many famous people stuttered." "I don't like it when my teacher asks me a question and I know the answer but I stammer and then she goes onto another person." "Sir Isaac Newton had a stammer and he worked out the laws of gravity, so he can't be stupid."

Our aims for the group were to increase self-confidence and give the students the necessary skills for problem solving and tackling difficult issues. On evaluation most of the children reported that they were more confident in dealing with difficult situations involving their stammer.

In four days we realised that it would be impossible to teach fluency techniques although we did teach some strategies - for example: slow, smooth speech, and relaxation. We also introduced the concept of 'communication' and the aspects of eye contact and gesture.

Although the main focus of our group was for members to feel more confident when communicating, many of the students reported that their stammer had improved while being on the course.

We had an ongoing project during the four days, which was for the students to develop a leaflet about stammering which could be handed out to teachers in schools throughout the borough. The students came up with the ideas for the content and layout and were very keen to share the leaflet with their teachers.

The students discussed: "What is a stammer?", and included covert and overt characteristics. Some were able to describe their stammer in a very insightful way. We discussed how stammers are different and each student constructed their own iceberg with covert features of feelings and thoughts, and overt features such as repetitions, blocking and blushing.

A 'situations hierarchy' was carried out, which involved ordering certain situations according to how easy or difficult the individual found them. From this the students identified individual aims and situations to practice at home, for example talking on the phone to a stranger.

The group enjoyed lots of fun activities, for example, matching famous people with their occupations, and then working out what it was that they had in common. The group were surprised to find out that each of the famous people mentioned had a stammer.

The group were offered the opportunity to write down in confidence, any situations/problems they have and put them in a 'post box', which was available throughout the four days. The situations were then discussed within the group.

Many of the students highlighted problems occurring at school, which they wanted some help trying to solve. As a group we then brainstormed solutions to these problems and discussed ways of approaching these solutions.

Due to the different ages of the students, some had already experienced the difficulties and so could make suggestions based on their own personal experience.

At the end of the four days the parents were invited along to watch a play that the students had developed about a new boy to a school who had a stammer and was bullied.

Everyone was involved including one student who was shy and did not want to speak in front of others. He took the role of the 'director' and directed the other students. This seemed to increase his confidence to the point where he was speaking out in front of the whole group. His comment at the end of the week was that he "liked the play the best".

All the students enjoyed the course and the feedback received from the parents and students was positive. One of the main points which everyone raised was how important it is to meet others who have similar difficulties and share experiences. We intend to invite the students to a follow up course next term where we can discuss any progress and they can meet up again with their new friends!

From the Summer 2002 edition of Speaking Out