HELP FOR YOUNGSTERS ALL OVER ENGLAND
THE STAMMERING INFORMATION PROGRAMME (SIP)
Following his visit to the Centre in November 2007, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families announced on 28 April 2008 that his Department was giving £340,000 over three years to enable the Michael Palin Centre to provide schools across England with information, advice and training materials on how best to support pupils who stammer.
In making this announcement, Ed Balls said: `I saw on my visit to the Michael Palin Centre last year how, with patience and expertise, the therapists there help children and their families to overcome or alleviate stammers. The training and information that schools will receive as a result of this funding will mean they can better understand the condition and how best to support pupils who stammer.`
Work has started on this project and is due for completion in 2010. We are working with teachers and other school staff, and with local speech and language therapists, to provide pupils who stammer with practical and effective help, so that all sectors of the childrens workforce collaborate to support children and young people in school who stammer.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROGRAMME
The Stammering Information Programme aims to:
increase awareness and understanding of stammering
provide people who work with children and young people who stammer with access to the information that they need
We have lots of information about stammering:
What happens when someone stammers
How it makes a person feel
How it impacts on communication
How it interferes with what a person wants to do or achieve
What we can do to help ourselves
What others can do to help
However, everyone is different and we cant include all the information that we have to cover all individuals in all circumstances.
We are asking the following groups of people to help us to decide what information should be included in the Stammering Information Programme:
Children aged 7-11 years
Young people aged 12-18 years
Parents of children who stammer (children aged 2-18 years)
Members of the educational workforce including nursery staff, teachers and school staff
We hope that by seeking the opinions of all these groups, that the Programme will contain the most important information that will have greatest relevance to most people.
The project involves a small number attending a discussion group, with the majority of participants completing two short questionnaires.
If you would like to find out more information about this project and/or how you could be involved, please contact one of the project team at the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children.
Frances Cook frances.cook@islingtonpct.nhs.uk
Ali Berquez ali.berquez@islingtonpct.nhs.uk
Elaine Kelman Elaine.kelman@islingtonpct.nhs.uk
Sharon Millard Sharon.millard@islingtonpct.nhs.uk
