Out Loud Speech Therapy

04/02/2026

Jumping on the caricature trend. Can you tell I’m passionate about what I do?! Also clearly have a penchant for colourful knitwear!

22/10/2025

It’s International Stammering Awareness Day so I thought now would be a good time to re-share this link to a classroom presentation to increase peers awareness of stammering and how they can best support people who stammer.

The presentation can be edited on Canva and was created by one of my old clients/his parent and based on a piece of work we did together.

Let us know if you use this to support your child or young person. It can be delivered to their class, or youth group or anywhere they feel may be helpful!

Check out this Presentation designed by kate3577.

17/10/2025

Really useful resource to support pupils with Developmental Language Disorder

We've created this tool which let's you create a card that students with DLD can give to their teachers. Helps our young people with DLD to advocate for themselves. And gets the information to more teachers.

Go to below and create your own.
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGzsPnbIPY/t3Ca0XmnOsgmz6mIleyjxw/view?mode=preview

If you are busy today (like us), bookmark this for later. Sit down with the young person with DLD and talk to them about what they want their teachers to know.

17/10/2025

26/09/2025

I did a thing!!!

I am so passionate about my work and looking forward to spreading awareness that families and schools are able to access high quality speech and language therapy within Central Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes

24/05/2025

I really love this poem written by Tim Shanks where he thinks about the type of stammerer he could have been:

https://stamma.org/your-voice/poem-i-could-have-been-stammerer

For our children and young people who stammer, teaching them from early on that 'it's ok to stammer' can help them to sit more comfortably with it as they get older.

You can help do this by supporting them to understand that everybody is different and that is ok. It can also be helpful to reinforce that it is WHAT you say and the things that you DO that are much more significant than the fact that their words might get suck sometimes.

Supporting them to learn more about stammering and researching other people in history who have stammered can also help with this.

Like this post? Please share it so that it can reach more people!

With his new poem, Tim imagines the different stammerer he could have been.

19/05/2025

Happy International Cluttering Awareness day from the MPC!

Cluttering is when a person’s rate of speech is very fast and it can be hard to understand (because of things like blurring words together or repeating phrases), which can lead to some frustration for the speaker and the listener.

People who clutter can experience some of the same challenges as people who stammer, but it is much less well known.

Alex (aged 10) brilliantly described his experience of cluttering in this picture explaining:
“I’ve drawn the main bits of the brain and the cerebellum which is for balance. It’s filled with loads of letters and numbers to signal my mind being filled with too much stuff! I’ve drawn some stars to picture dizziness and the guy covering his ears with frustration. He’s saying ‘for goodness sake, will you just talk some sense’”

Therapy for cluttering can help people to learn more about what it is and to support successful and confident communication.

Take a look at our website for more information:
About cluttering - The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering

.org

02/05/2025

When your children are little, often the best way to encourage their speech and language development, is to be at eye level with the child and to follow their lead in play. You can utilise a host of strategies to support your child's speech and language skills through all sorts of toys and play activities. If it is a toy/game your child is particularly motivated by, you are likely to get the most out of them in terms of their communication!

Here are some ways in which I might use some familiar toys/games to develop a child's speech, language and communication skills (see photos below).

Are there any toys/activities that you find are particularly helpful for supporting your child's speech and language? Any other activities you would like ideas for? If so, do let me know in the comments and I will do my best to help :)

Please do share this post with anyone you think might find it helpful and be sure to follow my page for more tips to support your child's communication skills across the day!

29/04/2025

Here is some feedback from a recent training I provided to High Ash CE School in 'Understanding Developmental Language Disorder'.

If you feel your education setting would benefit from further training in speech, language and communication needs, please feel free to get in touch :)

21/04/2025

So looking forward to using these in my upcoming speech therapy sessions! I think I'll be more excited than the children😆

05/03/2025

Really helpful question to ask! When I work with young people and adults who stammer, some might say that they prefer others to just continue to listen to them as they stammer and give them time, but others have said that they are happy for people to help them if they appear very stuck or on the verge of giving up. Always ask the question!