ISAD2000: Some Success Stories

About the presenters: The various presenters represent both the consumer and professional community of persons who stutter in various countries. They were asked to provide reports about the successes their countries experiences as a result of ISAD 2000, in part to celebrate what happened, but also to provide ideas for ISAD celebrations for other countries in the future. 


ISAD 2000 - some success stories

by Warren Brown (New Zealand Claudia Diaz (Argentina in Spanish or Argentina in English), Martine De Vloed (Belgium), Stefan Hoffmann (China), Olivier Humez (France), Ruth Ezrati-Vinacour (Israel), Moonja Shin (Korea),

ISAD 2000 - New Zealand by Warren Brown

"The main effort nationally was sending a press release about stuttering to every community newspaper in New Zealand. There are about 130 of them. It is hard to know how many used this information but a number of Speak Easy members reported seeing a story of some kind in their region's giveaway newspapers.

"For the third year in a row, the Canterbury Speak Easy branch did a great job in seeking publicity for stuttering in Christchurch. About the time of International Stuttering Awareness Day, Dr Mark Onslow, of Sydney University, Australia, was in Christchurch, visiting the Speech-Language Therapy Department at the University of Canterbury. The branch arranged for Dr Onslow to appear on Robin Harrison's show on CHTV to talk about the Lidcombe programme for treating children who stutter. The branch also held a stall at the Christchurch Arts Centre, reporting some success in making people aware of Speak Easy and stuttering.

ISAD 2000 - China by Stefan Hoffmann, Beijing

In the People's Republic of China, ISAD is still virtually unknown. In 2000, ISAD concentrated on stuttering children, and for the first time some dedicated persons organized some awareness raising activities.

I met a student, Chen Chao, from a renowned Beijing University, who is a PWS. He offered to translate the E de Geus book "Sometimes I Just Stutter" into Chinese. In parallel, students at China Rehabilitation Research Center (CRRC) translated some leaflets of the SFA, which were combined in 1 small flyer titled "5 questions about stuttering". With the help of a layout company, that did not charge us any money apart from printing, we managed to issue 500 copies of the book and 600 units of the flyer for distributing and using at CRRC and other medical facilities. This material has been used so far in Beijing, Shanghai and some more cities, and not only by kids.

On October 23rd, the Beijing Evening News, a daily with 800.000 readers per day, ran an article about ISAD, which was followed by a enormous amount of telephone inquiries at CRRC, showing the huge demand in information and help. Also the newspaper's website ran this article and a science program on TV mentioned ISAD.

The ISAD posters were sent to various contact persons. I know that Chen Chao showed one poster at his university's "public corner", where all kind of announcements are made usually.

It should be understood that here in China public activities reaching out to the general population without involvement of official channels are difficult to manage. The limited scope of action so far should be seen in this context.

ISAD 2000 - France by Olivier Humez

Association Parole-Begaiement in France organized the International Stuttering Awareness Day for the second time in October 2000. Meetings between Persons Who Stutter (PWS), their families and speech therapists took place in several major cities (Paris, Lyon, Toulouse, Grenoble...) Two TV reports portraying PWS were made and broadcast on the news on 2 of the 3 main national television channels.The national daily newspaper, "LE MONDE" announced the ISAD in a very good full page article written by its medical correspondant. Annoucements have been published in several regional daily papers and magazines. In addition, we set up and advertised by press release a tax free call phone number and got about 100 requests for information. We also published a colored poster to be put up in schools and medical practices, and pamphlets to be photocopied and distributed by our regional correspondants and members. We are now preparing the ISAD 2001, for which we want to emphasize meetings between PWS all over France.

ISAD2000 - Korea by Moonja Shin

We in Korea celebrated ISAD on 22nd of October. We gathered at Ewha W. University and performed the following activities:

Part 1 Introductory lecture
Mr. W.Y. Tae, the president of the Korean stuttering association, welcomed all participants. This was followed by an introductory lecture on adult stuttering by President S. H. Lee (The Korean Academy of Speech- Language Pathologists and Audiologists).

Part 2: Stuttering classes for different groups.
There were three education classes: parents education, adult education and childrens education.

Part 3: Outdoor events
Half of the workshop participants walked through Ewha campus. This differed from last year when we walked through the streets in Seoul between two Universities. This year however, we organized a procession through Ewha campus with a group of traditional Korean musicians taking the lead. This enabled participants to meet with each other and discuss common interests along the way. The walk ended with a garden party and finger lunch. This allowed people to socialize, play games and participate in a lucky draw.ng The day's activities were concluded with the joint recital of ten statements on stuttering.

ISAD2000 - Belgium by Martine deVloed

The theme of ISAD 2000 was "Reach out around the world to Children Who Stutter." To celebrate the 3rd ISAD and the 5th anniversary of vzw BEST two activities were organised:

The first was an academic session in the Gothic Room of the Town Hall of Brussels on 17 October. About 100 Flemish and French speaking people attended this academic session. Alderman Mrs van Baerlem inaugurated the evening. Lucas Vander Taelen, a member of the European Parliament told his story as stutterer. He has faced and has won the challenge of stuttering. Mr. Ronny Boey, a speech therapist from Antwerp spoke about the way how parents and teachers can help children who stutter. Professor Van Borsel, neurologist at the University of Ghent showed us the latest developments in research. Miss Elisabeth d�Udekem d�Acoz, who is the sister of Princess Mathilde and who is speech therapist in Wallonia (the southern part of Belgium) gave her view about treatment of stuttering children. At the end we have seen the short film : "To Speak". It is an autobiography of filmmaker Eric Lamens, who gave his comments. This film has won various prizes abroad.

The 2nd ISAD activity was a weekend for stutterers. About 35 participants came together on 20-21-22 October. A producer team of the Belgian television was present as well during the workshops. They are making a reportage about stuttering. Therefore two young stuttering people, Evi and Ahmed, are followed during one year. Their story will be showed on the national television from October 2001. The final shooting is planned at the 6th World Congress of People Who Stutter in Ghent at the Closing Ceremony of the Congress on July 26.

ISAD 2000 in Belgium was a great success again.

A report about the special way in which Ambi operates in Israel by Ruth Ezrati-Vinacour

There are two ways in which Ambi successfully operated last year.

International researchers and clinicians who come to Tel-Aviv University in Israel were invited to attend and lecture at Ambi meetings/conferences: Prof. Ehud Yairi (USA) spoke about the trends of research and the need and importance of genetic research. Prof. Nitza Katz-Bernstein (Germany) lectured and gave a workshop on the internal voices of PWS. Mrs.Lena Rustin(London) spoke about communication skills. We also heard a lecture about the McGuire program by a graduate of the program.

Nation wide expansion of the Ambi meetings not only in the greater Tel-Aviv area but also in Jerusalem and Haifa in order to reach out to those PWS who don't get to the Ambi center in Tel-Aviv.

Actividades Realizadas Por La Asociacion Argentina De Tartamudez En El Transcurso Del Ao 2001 - Argentina by Claudia Diaz

  • Presentacin de un trabajo sobre Prevencin en tartamudez en una muestra organizada por el Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, llamada Proyecto Joven, llevada a cabo en la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Buenos Aires.
  • Publicacin de una Gua para adolescentes. - Publicacin del libro A veces, yo tartamudeo para nios de 7 a 12 aos, traducido al espaol.
  • Aparicin del boletn informativo de la A.A.T. de frecuencia trimentral.
  • Dictado de un Seminario en Tartamudez para estudiantes de 4 ao de la Carrera de Licenciatura en Fonoaudiologa en la U.B.A.
  • Presentacin de un trabajo sobre Prevencin organizado por el Centro de Estudiantes de Fonoaudiloga.
  • Ampliacin de las instalaciones de nuestro lugar de trabajo para la realizacin de los talleres de msica, movimiento, juego y creatividad.
  • Comienzo de un trabajo de investigacin sobre los accidentes de la fluidez en nios de 4 aos, llevado a cabo por fonoaudilogas especialistas y psiclogas de la Asociacin.
  • Participacin en el Congreso de O.R.L. e intervencin peditrica realizado en la ciudad de Rosario, en el mes de Agosto.
  • Realizacin de un encuentro de fonoaudilogas especialistas, para la realizacin de protocolos de investigacin.
  • Realizacin del 1 Encuentro de Personas que tartamudean, en nuestra sede con la presencia de nuestros coordinadores de talleres creativos, el 7 de Septiembre.
  • Preparacin del Da Internacional de la toma de Conciencia de la Tartamudez con un evento al aire libre con la presencia de un coro, suelta de globos, difusin de material escrito,intervencin de medios periodsticos y presencia del personaje que representa a nuestro logo, la tortuga que repartir dulces a todos los nios presentes.
  • Realizacin de la Consulta abierta y gratuita de frecuencia semanal en nuestra sede difundiendo y asesorando sobre la tartamudez, coordinado por disfluentes, fonoaudilogas y psiclogos.
  • Firma del convenio entre las autoridades de la Asociacin Argentina de Tartamudez y el Decano de la Facultad de Medicina de Universidad de Buenos Aires, asegurando as la permanencia y presencia acadmica, y as como apoyo conjunto de actividades entre ambas partes. Presencia en los medios de comunicacin: - Entrevista radial a nuestra Presidente en programa A.M Continental. - Entrevista radial en programa F.M Radio 10 y F.M. de La Matanza.Pcia. de Buenos Aires.
  • Nota periodstica en Diario Pgina 12 ( Agosto 2001 ) - Nota periodstica en Diario La Nacin - Nota periodstica Revista Luna de inters general Septiembre 2001. - Entrevista televisiva programa Cerebrando canal de Cable. - Entrevista televisiva programa Salud 21 de temas relativos a la medicina.
  • Entevista televisiva en noticiero de Canal 7 programa Desayuno.

ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE ARGENTINE STUTTERING ASSOCIATION DURING THE YEAR 2001

  • Presentation of a report about stuttering prevention in an exhibition organized by the Government of Buenos Aires City, called Proyecto Joven (young project), taking place at the College of Law of the University of Buenos Aires.
  • Publication of a guide for adolescents.
  • Publication of the book "A veces, yo tartamudeo" ("Sometimes I stutter") for seven to twelve-year-old children, translated into Spanish.
  • Appearance of the informative bulletin of the A.S.A released every three months.
  • Seminar about Stuttering for students on their fourth year of Licentiate in phonoaudiology at the University of Buenos Aires.
  • Expansion of our workspace in order to dictate music, movement, games and creativity workshops.
  • Beginning of an investigation assignment about the accidents on the fluency of four-year-old children, carried out by specialized phonoaudiologists and psychologists of the association.
  • Participation in the Congress of O.R.L. and pediatical intervention carried out in the city of Rosario during the month of August.
  • Realization of a specialized phonoaudiologists meeting, for the making of investigation protocols.
  • Realization of the First Meeting of Stuttering People, in our place with the presence of our coordinators of the creativity workshops, September 7th.
  • Preparation of the International Day of Stuttering Awareness with an open air event, choir, balloon flying, distribution of written material, presence of the media and the one character which represents our logo, a tortoise who will give out sweets to all the children attending.
  • Realization of an open and free weekly appointment in our place promoting and answering questions about stuttering, coordinated by non-flowing, phonoaudiologists and psychologists.
  • Signature of an agreement between the authorities of the Argentine Stuttering Association and the Dean of the College of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires, granting the permanency and academic presence, as well as the joint support of the activities between the parts.

    Presence on the media

  • Radio interview to our president in the program A.M. Continental.
  • Radio interview in the program F.M. Radio 10 y F.M. de La Matanza, Buenos Aires province.
  • Interview on the newspaper Pgina 12 (August 2001)
  • Interview on the newspaper La Nacin (August 2001)
  • Interview on the magazine Luna of general interest (September 2001)
  • Television interview on the program Cerebrando (Cable channel)
  • Television interview on the program Salud 21 about topics related to medicine.
  • Television interview on the news program of Channel 7 Desayuno.