Stammer ruled my life – not anymore (From Echo)

Stammer ruled my life – not anymore

8:00am Tuesday 14th February 2012 in News By Chloe Chapman

A life transformed – William Lowes, 13, and his mum, Katharine

A SCHOOLBOY has turned his life around by overcoming a confidence-destroying stammer.

William Lowes, 13, had suffered from a speech impediment since he began to talk as a toddler.

At first he struggled to pronounce certain words properly but as he grew older he developed a very obvious stammer.

While his loyal friends and family accepted William as he was, he became extremely self-concious when he started at the Deanes School in Thundersley.

William, of Woodfield Road, Hadleigh, said: “I just didn’t like it. I felt I was different from other people.

“No one was mean to me, it was just something personal to me.

“When I moved to secondary school I noticed it much more because there were more people, and I had to talk much more, which was a big problem.”

One evening he broke down and finally revealed his feelings to his mum, Katharine, 39.

Katharine said: “He was so down all the time, but I didn’t think it was his speech.

“One night he was just crying and he told me he felt it was stopping him doing so much stuff. It broke my heart.”

William had been to speech therapy lessons his whole life, but nothing seemed to make a difference.

Desperate to make her son smile again, Katharine scoured the internet and saw a glimmer of hope when she came across the McGuire project.

The international courses are run by people who previously had stammers, and relies on teaching people breathing techniques to control their own speech.

In August last year William went on his first four-day workshop, surrounded by adults who had gone through their teens struggling with the same problem.

Katharine said: “It is amazing, even after just a few days there was such a dramatic change. It’s the best thing he’s ever done “I always had to answer for him because he didn’t like to communicate with new people. Now he’s the one who always wants to read out in class.”

The stammer will never go away entirely, but William will get lifelong support as well as going on regular refresher courses.

The McGuire programme has been hailed for its success stories, including helping famous faces, such as pop star Gareth Gates, cure their stammers.

William said: “It’s changed my life because I speak out more. Before, I was this person in the background. Now I’m the person who always wants to get up and speak. I’m just so much more confident.

“If I hadn’t done the course I would have gone through life wondering what it could have been like without my stammer.”

For more information, visit www.mcguireprogramme.com