EARLY INTERVENTION POLICY TO TACKLE STAMMERING

That this House believes that the opportunity presented by the Bercow Review to introduce an early intervention policy for children who stammer, which would allow nine out of 10 of those at risk of persistent stammering to talk fluently for the rest of their lives, should be taken; expresses its concern that there is currently no system within the education system or the NHS to inform and encourage early intervention for stammering, nor sufficient resources or training to provide suitable speech therapies throughout England and Wales; recognises that stammering is a neurological condition, affecting around 720,000 adults and children in the UK, from which adults cannot be cured, as the stammer becomes effectively hard-wired into their brains; and understands that early intervention as soon as the stammer is obvious, which is normally around the age of three, will allow almost 90 per cent. of those children at risk of persistent stammering to recover, enabling them to avoid the frustration, teasing and isolation which affects so many children who stammer, and will let them grow up more able to achieve their ambitions and make more of their work and social lives, whilst reducing long-term costs to the NHS and bringing people who stammer more fully into society and the workforce.