Pakistan Stammering Association

3rd Support Group Meeting in Islamabad

The Pakistan Stammering Association held its third support group meeting in Islamabad on the 16th of March, 2008. Due to a blast in Islamabad just a night before, some people were reluctant to come so there were a total of only 2 individuals present.

The room was already booked with refreshments and I had everything planned and documented, so I didn't postponed it and we even had a great time even being only 2 people there.

As before I had planned some things for today and again I was happy to see that everyone participated in everything. We started with a brief introduction about Pakistan Stammering Association and Support Groups. This time it was different. Everyone talked about what are support groups and how they can help stammerers (We skipped breathing session as we started really late and didn't have much time left). After that there were introductions. Then a brief explanation about stammering, and we all shared our experiences as being stammerers and what techniques do we use to deal with our stammer. Participants shared their views about stammering, and their ideas about how to gain control over our stammering. We also discussed the document "Information for Adults Who Stammers. (From British Stammering Association website). The we talked about our feared situations, and I was happy to see the participants talking so openly about their speech difficulties and feared situations - One of the main objectives of the support groups.

The next topic was about using telephone. We talked about our experiences while using the telephone, and again everyone talked very openly about their difficulties when they are talking on the phone and how we can be more confident while speaking on the phone. Then we had the fun part - The Harrison's workshop. We picked up random pieces of paper, and talked on the topic written on the paper for 3 min (per person).

This time we also set some challenges until next meeting. Hope they will be met until we meet up again.

There were a few documents distributed among the participants.

1. The meeting plan and contents.
2. What happens at the self-help group meeting? (Courtesy: Keith Boss, ISA)
3. Information for adults who stammer. (Source: British Stammering Association website)
4. Using the telephone. (Source: British Stammering Association website)
5. Message to a stutterer, by Joseph Sheehan
6. Challenges until next Support Group Meeting

Again, due to lack of time, we could not discuss "Message to a stutterer". We will be talking on that on the next support group meeting.

I would especially like to thank the Serena Hotel Management for providing us a magnificant hall and refreshments, all free of cost. Thanks to all the staff at the hotel, they were really helpful to us.

For the next support group meeting, please note some points here.

1. I emailed all people who contacted me from/around Islamabad about 4 days earlier. I also text'd some of you informing of the event. Both in email and texts I requested that if you would like to attend, please conform latest by Saturday morning. This is essential as I need to know how many people are coming so I can ask the Serena Hotel Management to book a room according to the number of people attending. Also, I also have to prepare some documents and have to make the meeting schedule according to the number of people attending the event. So please, for our next meetings, do confirm your arrival latest by Saturday morning i.e. 12:00 PM. I ask this every time in my emails and texts but no one replies to me and conform that they are coming unless I call them myself and ask them wheter they are coming or not. Please people, have some respect for your organizer.
2. If you conform that you are coming, please be there on time, or maximum 15 minutes late. Please understand that we have limited time and it looks so bad that the hotel staff are waiting for guests to arrive and there is no one showing up for a long time.
3. If you have any problems with the timings, please inform me and I will try to change them. But again, you have to inform me at your earliest, and not at the last minute.
4. National tragedies are happening in Pakistan these days unfortunately. Please do not let them to come in between our mission. Please try to be there if you can.

I had a great time, as I always have on a support group meeting. Hope to see you guys soon again and just keep moving forward!

Hammad