Resources for parents

What's Going On Inside My Head?

Starting conversations with your child about positive mental health.

Written by Sally Potter and illustrated by Sarah Jennings, this introduces strategies for developing emotional intelligence, understanding uncomfortable thoughts and emotions, and nurturing well-being and self-esteem.

When the Stammer Came to Stay

This is a story by Maggie O’Farrell that celebrates differences and explores the resilience of children as they learn to navigate new and seemingly frightful challenges. 

Based on Maggie’s own personal experience living with a stammer, When the Stammer Came to Stay is a moving and empowering reminder of how acceptance – from your family, community and importantly, yourself – can make all the difference.

We invited children and young people who stammer who come to the Michael Palin Centre to read Maggie’s book and to ask her questions about the book.

You can read the questions and Maggie’s answers here:

P aged 9 years female

What did you do to help your stammer?

When I first got my stammer, when I was six or seven years old, I thought I had to try and hide it at all costs. Other children at school teased me for it, or made fun of the way I spoke. So I tried not speaking much at all, or pretending it wasn’t happening. It was only when I became an adult that I decided to get professional help and to see a speech therapist. I wish I’d done it years ago.

What did you do to get your mind off your stammer?

I used to have singing lessons, and strangely I never stammered when I sang so that was a huge relief. I also started writing. I remember watching the words come out of the nib of my pen, without any trouble at all, and feeling what a joy that was. 

What were you feeling when you found out about your stammer and what did you do to calm yourself down?

I think breathing deeply and regularly always helps. Sometimes I try and relax my jaw and tongue before I know I will have to speak. Also, telling as many people as you can about having a stammer is helpful, then people know to expect some dysfluency. Anything that normalises a stammer is useful.

What did you mean about the looming faces and why do you think they would have cute puppy eyes?

It’s the way I visualised my stammer when I was young: a little presence on my shoulder that stole words from me. It wasn’t scary or bad but slightly apologetic. I didn’t do the drawings for the book – they were done by the very talented Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini – and this was her vision of the stammer.

K-H aged 13 female

How did you overcome your fear of speaking? 

I still have some fear about speaking – perhaps that is what it means to have had a stammer. I still much prefer writing to talking, to this day. But I’ve found that forcing myself to do things that I’m scared of, like public speaking or going on the radio or using a telephone, can really help. Sometimes, I’ve had to push myself through the fear of doing things like that; when you come out the other side, it feels as if you’ve climbed a mountain.

 How did you grow out of the need to keep your stammer secret?

 It was the brilliant speech therapist who helped me a decade or so ago. She said to me, ‘What’s so bad about stammering? Don’t be ashamed if it happens. Just look the person in the eye and say, “I have a stammer.” If they have a problem with it, it’s their problem, not yours.’ It was excellent advice and I still use that line sometimes, if I find myself in difficulties. 

M aged 19 female

Where does the inspiration for the lodger characters originate from? Are they constructed from people you have personally met or are they completely fictitious?

They are a mix – some of them are drawn from real-life and others are made-up.

In regards to the protagonist’s sister, to what extent did you set out to represent/provide commentary on OCD or similar behaviours in children? And what are your thoughts on the relationship between OCD and stammering – why was this a significant relationship for you to portray in her book?

 I never intended Min’s sister, Bea, to have a definite diagnosis of any kind. In writing Bea’s character, I wanted to have two very different sisters who are obliged to share a room, and therefore have to learn to accept each other. One is tidy, the other messy; one is quiet and bookish, the other chatty. In the course of the book, they are brought face-to-face with the particularly challenges they live with.

Did writing this book give you the opportunity to learn anything new about your stammer or understand it better?

I think it made me consider what my stammer has given me, and not just focus on what it has taken away from me. All stammerers become adroit editors, by necessity. During conversations, we have to redraft and rethink our sentences inside our head; we have to come up with synonyms for words that might trip us up. I don’t think I would have been a writer if I hadn’t first been a stammerer. 

D aged 8 male

What made you choose such a confronting image for the stammer? Do you think this might make children who stammer feel more vulnerable?

 It was how I envisioned my stammer when I was a child: a little presence on my shoulder that stole words from me. I’m sure that all stammerers have their own relationships with their stammers – this was mine. Daniela, the illustrator, drew the stammer to look like this.

When the Stammer Came to Stay is published by Walker Books on 21 November.