The following are examples of children who we have helped:
Paul (aged 3) came to the Centre because his parents were concerned about his stammering. Although his older brother had stammered briefly, this time it seemed to be a bit different. Paul and his parents came for Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, during which they selected and practised some variations in their interaction styles which they felt would help.
Paul's speech has now stabilised, but he will continue to be checked from time to time. His mother described what happened: "Initially I felt very worried and unsure about how to help Paul, but we soon learned that there was so much that we, as parents, could do to help our son. The videos (of the family interacting) helped make it clear, so now we knew what to do."
David (aged 7) came to the Centre because his parents were concerned about his speech. His mother stammered and the family was worried that his speech might become a serious problem for him in the future. David and his parents came for a course of Parent-Child Interaction. His little brother joined in at a later stage, as he was also vulnerable to ongoing stammering.
David's mum explained: "From the videos we discovered that we were asking lots of questions one after another, not waiting for a reply! We also noticed that we spoke quite quickly compared with both our children. So instead of telling them to slow down, we decided to try going more slowly ourselves - we found that conversations became much easier when we weren't in a rush."
By contributing to ARSC and the Michael Palin Centre, you can make a real difference to the lives of children such as Paul and David.
