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From: Leys Geddes
Date: 15 Oct 2008
Time: 02:58:12 -0500
Remote Name: 86.163.200.31
Yes, I agree with all you say, Tim. I think that many parents feel the same kind of defensiveness about their child's stutter as PWS themselves do - so they become defensive and try to hush it up, in case it is seen as a sign of weakness. It's not the same with conditions such as autism, because they can't be hidden and have traditionally been regarded as 'serious' by the medical community, unlike speech disorders. In the UK, we have been campaigning for the last 15 years to encourage the Government to adopt an Early Intervention policy for CWS. We believe that EI will allow 9 out of 10 of those children at risk of stuttering for the rest of their lives to recover. So it is by far the most effective - and the most cost-effective - way of reducing stuttering in the community. If you can adopt this policy as the number one item in your campaigning agenda, then most of your other communication objectives will also be met.