Chennai meets

Dear friends,
The Chennai chapter meeting was held on 29th Aug and attended by 13 PWS
including 2 new PWS and one 11 yr old boy along with his parent. This is the
15th meeting of the Chennai chapter from its inception. There are about 30 PWS
as members at present in this Chennai SHG.

I am glad to inform that 5 PWS have shown vast improvements both in their
speech as well as mind set towards stammering. Hats off to them. For obvious
reasons, I have not mentioned their names. This really shows the power of SHG.

Coming to the meeting, everyone talked about 10 min. All are spoken really well.
The important change I noticed is each one came voluntarily and spoken without
waiting for their names called as per usual practice. We observed that telling a
story and narrating an incident is a tough one for any PWS. Now we are working
on that. If we succeed in this count, then our 95% mission is over.

Coming to Master A, he seems to a mild stammerer and started stammering from
the age of 8 yrs as told by his father. First he hesitated a bit to speak, but
after seeing others speaking he has spoken twice.

After 8 months the Chennai SHG started bearing fruits.

That's all from Chennai.
Regards,

V. Manimaran
Mobile: 098842 89989

Weekly meet of Dehradun SHG

Please visit SHG Meet

The healing touch: Autistic children

This Sunday I participated in a workshop organised by parents of children suffering from Autism in Dehradun. Like me, there were many other participants, who did not have such a child but were there to help. The idea was to formalise a community support network for such children, so that even when parents are not around, the autistic individuals are able to take assisted decisions in their interest. It was truly heart warming to see how a mother of one such child had spear-headed a movement spreading across the country and attracting even overseas support. See the organisation Parivar.
Every now and then, my thoughts would turn to our own issues: will parents of CWS (children who stammer) ever come out strongly in the support of their children, like this? Will PWS ever be able to organise such a meeting in a state capital and attract non-PWS in such numbers? Will they ever be able to see beyond their 'private' suffering, take a proactive role and network with other stake-holders?
I dont know- frankly speaking. But unless these changes come over us, in a sizeable number, chances are we will achieve little and our suffering will remain a 'private' affair. Such suffering, a potential resource, will benefit neither us nor the society in any creative way.
On a very different note, I realised that some of my own recovery from stuttering was related to my involvement with 'special children'. I had started to volunteer at a day care centre for such children. Still later, I had started to take Mewa Ram around, a paraplegic, in a wheel chair as a volunteer. These experiences helped to put my 'speech problems' in a realistic perspective. It opened my heart. Because, frankly speaking, stammering causes us to not only stop communicating, but also to close our heart against the world. This is a deeper malady than poor communication. No amount of speech therpy changes this. Some 'special' child or someone else in need of 'service' can undo this damage, this closure.
Do we want recovery desperately enough? Alas, that is the big question!

And I cried

Today i pinged one of my school time friend on orkut's chat window, which generally I don't do . We were asking each other about our present jobs, girlfriends ( which both of us have none ), families etc. Then suddenly he gave me his phone number and asked me to call him, or give my phone number to him so that he can call ( A lot of people have tried this to me, but generally I never used to respond).
To my surprise, I called him and during our conversation I found out that he was in touch with a lot of people from school. I casually told him that I think only I am the person who was not in touch with anybody from school( and not even from college. By the way I never attended college regularly. But that's for some other time). He asked me why I never tried calling anybody from school.I didn't reply.
After the call I started thinking about this and to my amazement I found that I was so concerned with my speech that I forgot everything and to me life's only purpose was just to have a perfect speech, that's it! , nothing else. I had zoomed in, so much on my stammer, that i couldn't see anything else.
And I started crying, thinking what I had done to myself.I don't blame my stammer but my attitude towards my stammer. I used to think, I will call all my friends once I have that perfect fluency. But today I stammered a lot with my friend, I told him that I stammer myself and work for people who stammer and we shared some good laugh too while we recollected some of the old school memories.I used to think I shouldn't talk to any of my past friends because if I go back in past, I will also have to go to some of the embarrassing moments as well and it will undo whatever amount I have changed. But I was wrong. Talking to my friend helped me bring out my suppressed emotions.
If any person who stammers, is reading this, please don't focus all your attention to your stammering, there are many other things in life and don't think i will go for an MBA or call my old friends or get married when I will have total fluency, because believe me that is not required.I am not asking you to stop working on your fluency but that can go side by side while you enjoy your life. Everything shouldn't not stop to gain fluency .

(As I have had these experiences at a great personal cost, I am not posting this anonymously!)

P.S: I called Sachin ( he is my guru ) after this and cried again & again and believe me, I will call each one of my old friends, and won't loose out on any more moments in my life.

Group Therapy to School Kids

Please visit group therapy

Dehradun SHG meet, held on 23 August 2009

12 Members were present for the weekly Self Help Group (SHG) meet held at Samagra Ashram. We started with a round of introductions and had a quick test of our listening skills by testing how many names we could remember. The next activity was a puppet show where we organized ourselves into a team of two or three and enacted a drama through the use of puppets. Next came the talent show, where some of us shared jokes, puzzles and some sang. We concluded with feedback session.


Last two pictures show how a facilitator uses puppets to help a CWS verbalize his feelings, have fun and practice his speech goals- all at the same time. Puppets can be a very creative aid even for adults. They are particularly useful to help us explore our feelings and repressed emotions. A group of CWS were asked to enact a class room scene through puppets. In doing so, they visited the personal moments of embarassment, laughed about it and later, during debriefing, talked objectively about the whole experince.

I was an ex-stammerer

I am 25 years old, person who stammer (PWS). I took speech therapy first time when I was 17, for 6 months & I was fluent for an year or so, but returned to my old habits soon..This is the same thing which I have observed in a lot of people in my self help group in Pune..

I used to think (as most other people who stammer would do) that its because I stopped my daily practices, and always had this guilt feeling that if I would have had worked harder, I would still have that fluency....but now I am beginning to realize that I was wrong. Not doing my daily practices was only a small part of the story but the important missing link was that the speech therapist never worked on my emotions linked to my stammer. So I was vulnerable to stammer again. Just one "BAD" day was enough to take me back to the place where I started.

Acccording to me, theraphy should begin with making the PWS realise that stammering is not that bad. Its not a crime or sin, for which he/she should feel guiltly. Along with this,if we work on our speech, results will be long lasting and then stammering on a few words here & there won't affect us because everyone stammmers some time.

From the battle field!!

Manpreet, me (JP), Rishu (She is a volunteer at Samagra) and Sachin went to Christian Medical Hospital Yesterday. It was an oppurtunity for me and Manpreet to test our speech in daily life environment involving communicative pressure because its really easy to talk, bounce and prolong in a non-threatening environment at Samagra but for most of the people who stammer all their techniques & fluency vanishes as soon as they get out of speech Therapist's clinic. First assignment was to talk to two patients and try to remember various information from them like their name, purpose of their visit etc..The aim was to focus not only on our speech but on listening skills as well.It was not an easy task for me. Even though my stammer doesn't bother me but I was trying to force the words out sometimes & forgot to bounce with both the people. Rishu & Sachin were observing us and gave feedback after the assignment. After this, the next assignment was to talk to three people who seem to be in a hurry.The aim here was to check how we perform under pressure. This time Rishu decided our "targets". My first target was a couple who were leaving the hospital after their kid's checkup. It took me some time to convince them to talk to me but again forgot all my techniques. Same th‌ing happened with next two people. I don't know why i was not able to bounce on some of the words and was forcing them out. Sachin told me that its because I have only accepted my stammer at an intellectual level and not at an emotional level, which seems valid to me. After this we all went to meet the Medical Superintendent. She was a nice lady & surprised us by telling that she thinks bouncing and prolongation are really COOL and everybody should use them. After this, came the real challenge of the day. Go to an inquiry window & with all the people in front of you, start bouncing loudly from behind and ask a question. I was not easy to start with. As soon as i started bouncing a few heads turned back to see, who is this ? But that's it and then they carried on with their work. I was expecting them to kill me :) . I asked my question by bouncing loudly and got a reply too :). I did this twice. The last assignment made my day. I felt there is nothing wrong with me stammering and bouncing, the only thing to be taken care of is that I should stammer easily, without exerting too much force.

P.S. The Medical Superintendent told us that the hospital was built by a German Engineer, who went back to Europe to get his medical degree only to start this hospital & help the people of the area who had no access to good medical facilities. Really an inspiration for me!

Find yourself a dream..

JP told me about this amazing story of a PWS Basket ball player..
Truly inspiring. Check out if you want to know how "weakness" can be turned into strength with a little shifting of consciousness..
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=resources/lifestyle_community/community&id=5822669
JP, a young IT pro on a sabbatical, is doing fine in Samagra- learning how to counsel young CWS/ PWS; how to teach speech motor skills to a group of PWS; how to motivate others through sharing (self admission), how to use role play to impart a skill or to promote introspection, how to use case studies to promote analysis, discussion and shift in perception and feeling.
Manpreet too is here and doing well. We did morning jog, Yoga and some guided meditation on the roof as the sun tried to peep throughmonsoon clouds.
Well, it is not exactly a bed of roses- living in Samagra- what with Dish washing, getting up at 5 am, racing from one activity to the other.. But every day is full of self discovery and deeper insights into life.

Chennai SHG meet- 29th August

Next Chennai meet on 29.08.2009 at YWCA mini conference hall, #1086, Poonamalli high road near Dinathanthi office, Chennai 600086 from 4 PM to 7 PM.

Manimaran 098842 89989

What holds us back ??

I always think what is that what holds us back? Is it our stammer or for that matter any other disability or is it our mental attitude or we really don't know what we want..

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8160700.stm gives a good thought to the subject.

Independence Day

“We are inaugurating TISA website on
15th august, The independence day, at 8 am, by requesting a senior
IPWS (Indian person who stammers) and a HR consultant, to share his
thoughts on true meaning of Independence of speech. You are welcome to
visit the website on 15th at 8 am, to read this write up – and then
chat with him thereafter.. and tell us what more would you like to see
on this website.
We will request the SHGs in Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Surat, Delhi and
Dehradun to write to the local media about the inauguration of our
TISA website - stammer.in
We also request you to visit the website with your friends and family
members and give us feedback. You may do so by logging into the forum
or using the "contact us" form.
We also request you to phone at least three IPWS that day and tell
them about this website.
Finally we request you to tell us the local name / word for
stammering. We are developing a list of such words and put them in a
scrolling banner on the website- to promote general people's awareness
about a problem which affects 10 million Indians."

TISA needs help

Dear friends
I wish to share something of great importance to us, the IPWS.
1.After about an year or so of blogging and chatting a little
haphazardly, now we have a proper home on web. The TISA website
(stammer.in). It can be extended to accommodate future needs, will
soon have Indic script support, and other features to promote free
flow of relevant and objective information. A team of dedicated and
competent IT volunteers from among ourselves, are managing it. Many of
you have contributed to it. I am, at present, acting as the Editor.
Soon, we will have an editorial board.
2.Now, we need to raise some funds to ensure that this website can do
much more: more people can chat on line, proper back up can be taken,
enough bandwidth is there for more people to use it and also to put up
some graphics. Here is a breakdown of these projected expenses:
3.Web Hosting - Requirement is 500 MB space, and 5 GB per month data
transfer - Cost - USD 100 per annum (Rs 4800 per year)
Domain registration- Rs 850 per year
Back-up - A 1 TB external hard disk, cost – Rs 7000 (This is one-time
cost, not recurring)
Chat - For 20 concurrent users, cost is USD 22 (Rs 1100) per annum (at
present only 5 people can chat)
Total: about Rs 14000
(of this, only Rs 6750 (=Rs 7000) is annual recurring cost
for the maintenance of the website).
4.So, can anyone help us raise this amount? You could send it as a
cheque in the name of
Dr S K Srivastava (payable at Herbertpur, Dehradun) and post it to
this address:
Dr S K Srivastava
Managing Trustee
Samagra Ashram, Near Summerfield School
Herbertpur, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248121
Ph: 09412058272
satksri@rediffmail.com, sachin@stammer.in
5.This is just a step towards formal registration of Samagra as a
Public charitable trust, which I am working on. I hope that soon,
donations to Samagra will be exempted from IT. Till then, I am totally
responsible and answerable to whatever donations, big or small, you
send to us.
Feel free to get back If you have any questions or suggestions.
Sincerely
sachin
(Dr S K Srivastava)
satksri@gmail.com, satksri@rediffmail.com , sachin@stammer.in

Pune TISA SHG, active and running

Hi All,
We are now meeting every sunday at a new and convenient indoor place at the below mentioned address:
Senior citizen’s hall,
Opposite Anil Ambani Reliance Communications.
Dhole patil road. Pune
Please contact me (9881255051) in case of any issue locating this address.

The sessions we conduct @Pune are getting really interesting by each passing day. It's very amazing to see how much talent and deep insights each one has in their respective fields.
We have among us Engineers, Lawyers, LIC agents, Students etc, but each one of us is striving to achieve the pinnacle of excellence.

Of late, we have started physical excercises to begin with, and then a round of personal introduction. Just when this process was getting hackneyed, one of our brainy chap suggested an idea: let each of the person introduce himself/herself present the introduction at a very slow rate of speech, and then others in the audience will provide the feedback on various parameters, ie. articulation, content, intonation, eye contact etc. Because in a stammerer's case, (s)he often feels that she is really going slow following this technique, however, the listener is completely ok with it. Sometimes, we are not that bad as we are habituated to think about ourselves.

One of our student pal has discussed his problem of answering the roll call in the classroom. each one of us poured him with our own experiences and techniques to overcome this impediment. another good friend in the group has sought few suggestions as to what to do when he gets stuck with a particular word. Similarly, another query showed up as to "what shall i do when i could not muster enought courage to speak up in the offical setup and feel ashamed of it afterwards".
It's very heart warming to see how each one of us is standing up for each other and willing to help. what we are trying to do here is, provide the PWS an atmosphere to open up and communicate freely, where (s)he does not feel threatened or judged.

My earnest request to anybody and everybody in Pune interested in our group, join us immediately and see how it works out to be. Our group is definitely worth trying !

-Manohar
mikkilimanohar@gmail.com
9881255051

From BSA

Dear Friend
It's not often I email you with a fundraising issue - but this is something quite special:
BSA member Rachel Reed is going to cross the Channel in support of the BSA. We've had 5km runs, 10km runs, even a Marathon but never a Herculean effort such as this. Just cycling to work for me is already quite a challenge for me!
If you can support Rachel in raising funds for the BSA, that would be wonderful: you can find her webpage at
http://www.justgiving.com/rachelreed2
Alternatively, or in addition, please tell your friends and family about her - why not simply add it to every email as a signature that you're sending out?
Also, the BSA website has its very first video - an information clip we produced for the Annual Conference of the National Association of Head Teachers. Have a look - it is really quite good:
http://www.stammering.org/naht.shtml
You can subscribe to regular updates on what's new on the BSA website here:
http://www.stammering.org/new_updates.html
Best wishes
Norbert
You have received this email because you have subscribed to the BSA mailing list. You can unsubscribe at any time by filling in the form on this site:
http://www.stammering.org/emaillist.html
--
Norbert Lieckfeldt
The British Stammering Association15 Old Ford Road, London E2 9PJHelpline: 0845 603 2001 Scotland: 08453 303 800Reg Charity Nos 1089967/SC038866Ltd Company registered in England No 4297778Tel: 020 8983 1003 - www.stammering.org

Surat SHG Update!

Akash and Hetal from Surat SHG met on Friday the 31st July evening. This time instead of my boring University office, we decided to meet at 'A lot can happen over coffee' place, CCD. Looking to the buzz, I felt like relishing an Irish Coffee but the place was little too exciting and it was a lady for taking order which was unexpected! I blocked badly ordering 'Irish Coffee' and people around also noticed me and Hetal, perhaps as strange speakers! Nonetheless, we enjoyed the evening as well as coffee (it was delicious despite blocks!)

We tried prolongations and noticed that it did provide an instant relief from blocks however its long term impacts are questionable. Hetal tried not to struggle but somehow didn't succeed this time. We hope to work on struggle less speech sincerely next time.

We were determined to take a snap by requesting the waitress to "click" (yes again!) but somehow the camera didn't work!

Akash