How a Peterlee man conquered his stammer to speak at his old school

Hartlepool Mail

John Dean struggled with a bad stammer through much of his childhood and teenage years. He later joined a speech therapy course called The McGuire Programme - a decision that he credits with changing his life for the better.

Transcript

00:00Hiya. What's your name?

00:04John Dean.

00:05And where are you from, John?

00:07Peter Lee.

00:08Peter Lee, so you've not come too far to that now. How did you get here?

00:11I mean, dad and then nana drove me here.

00:14In 2015, Peter Lee man John Dean, who had grown up with a severe stammer that plagued his school life,

00:20joined an intensive speech therapy course called the Maguire Programme.

00:25What do you do? Do you work?

00:26No, I'm one time out looking for work.

00:30Okay. So what sort of thing do you hope to do?

00:33Well, I'm looking for faculty work. The reason why I'm more looking for faculty work is because of my stammer, really.

00:39But the job I would really like is working in a shop, like a fish shop or any kind of shop.

00:44And the only reason why I'm not really keen on that is because of my stammer.

00:47Because I stammer in front of customers and they start laughing or they're just generally struggling.

00:51If I just stand around going, if I just stand around wondering where I'm going to finish talking.

00:56As part of the therapy, John did something that would terrify many, speech impediment or not.

01:01He spoke in public on a busy city centre street in Newcastle.

01:05John Dean. Before I came in the course, I was afraid to come back.

01:15Once I did it, I felt really proud.

01:22About a year or so after I left school, I discovered the Maguire programme.

01:31And to be honest, I said no back then because I didn't think my stammer was that severe, but I was wrong.

01:44And a few years later, that's when I decided I can't go on like this.

01:51I need to join the programme, get it under control.

01:57We use one technique called costal breathing.

02:01And I'm wearing this belt here right now to help me know how far to costal breathe, help it keep it fully.

02:15Also, we use deliberate disfluency like a hit and hold.

02:23I've had some jobs interacting with customers and 10 years ago, I would have said no to having a job interacting with customers.

02:44This course, I should add, it's not a cure, but it is a control.

02:53John has even returned to his old school as a speaker.

02:56I've been emailing my former second school asking to do a talk there.

03:04My former head of year at the time when I was in school was there.

03:15She introduced me to the class and I did talk about how bad my stammer was in school.

03:31The programme, what I did in the programme and what it has learned for me as well.

03:41If you do have a stammer, I would strongly recommend joining this course.

03:48It really does make a difference.

03:53And I'm not scared to talk to anyone now.

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