'Raising stammer awareness will break the barrier'

Julia Lovel, assistant headteacher at Holderness Academy, Hull, has created stammer awareness packs alongside student Laila

A teacher and student affected by stammers have joined forces to create awareness packs for schools and help others understand the condition.

Julia Lovel, assistant headteacher at Holderness Academy, Hull, started working with student Laila after holding an assembly on how the speech impediment had impacted her own life.

The packs will include planned assemblies, posters to put around schools and a short film, to educate staff and pupils on stammers and how they work.

Laila, 15, who has a stammer herself, said: "Raising awareness will break the barrier and help other students who may be confused."

Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust's Speech and Language Therapy Team said it was collaborating with The Consortium Academy Trust, which runs Holderness Academy, to bring the project to life.

Stuttering, or stammering, is a type of speech disorder where the flow of spoken words is altered by repetitions or prolonged sounds.

Laila said it "felt so good" to be part of the stammer awareness project

Ms Lovel, an English teacher who is also responsible for student development, said: "My dad's got a very severe stammer and when he was growing up the understanding of it was very limited and so people tried to cure him.

"Now we know a lot more.

"People don't understand if we don't educate people," she added.

After the assembly, held in October last year, Ms Lovel said she was approached by Laila who wanted to help her raise awareness of the condition.

'Mental impact'

Laila said she had previously overcome her fears of living with a stammer by challenging herself to take on a job answering phones at a busy takeaway.

She said: "In school it can be so hard to navigate with a stammer because of how cruel some people can be.

"Avoiding speaking to people with a stammer can have a real mental impact on young people and make them feel embarrassed, ashamed and not heard."

On Thursday, 20 students across East Yorkshire participated in creating a film for the project.

Ms Lovel said she hoped the stammer packs would be shared in other schools across East Yorkshire and, potentially, further afield.

The NHS trust said it was working with the academy trust to produce resources and deliver support for the project, which will officially be launched on 22 October, Stammer Awareness Day.

Laila said that it felt "so good" to see the project "come to light, watch everything unfold and be a part of it."

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