Colin Firth launches appeal for children who stammer

The King’s Speech actor is now vice-president of Action for Stammering children

Oscar-winning actor Colin Firth and Ed Balls, shadow chancellor Ed Balls, launched the charity's appeal this week.

The appeal, ‘Unlock a Child’s Voice,’ has set a target of £1.5m over three years from sponsors and donors. The money raised will fund support and training for specialist speech and language therapists and research.

Colin Firth, ASC’s vice president, said, ‘The King’s Speech taught me not only the cruelty of having a stammer but also the life-changing benefits specialist therapy can bring.’

Mr Firth won an Oscar for his depiction of King George VI in the film.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls, who has a stammer and raised more than £90,000 last year for ASC, for running the London Marathon, also supports the campaign.

‘As someone who had help and support in dealing with my own stammer, I share ASC’s aim of making sure every child gets the chance to learn to cope with theirs, and for that perceived barrier to be removed so they can achieve their full potential with confidence,’ he said.

The appeal comes as research highlights the importance of specialist speech and language therapy for children who stammer. The Michael Palin Centre, supported by ASC, used the Parent Rating Scale as a research tool during its year-long programme, which showed children became more confident and spoke more often  and were less frustrated by their stammer afterwards.

The findings revealed a statistically significant reduction in the impact that stammering has on the child and the severity of it.

According to the charity, one child in 20 will stammer at some point in their life, and almost 150,000 children and young people in the UK have a persistent stammer.