OSCAR nominated film The King’s Speech has been praised by speech experts in the town for shining the spotlight on a difficult subject.

Speech therapists along with those who suffer from the impediment in Swindon have welcomed the attention and hope Colin Firth’s latest blockbuster – which was nominated for 12 Oscars yesterday – will encourage more people in the town to seek help for their stammer.

The film tells the story of King George VI who, plagued by a stammer and considered unfit to be king, sought the help of unorthodox speech therapist Lionel Logue.

The Reverend Simon Stevenette, of Christ Church Swindon has himself overcome a stammer which developed in his teenage years.

He said: “The King’s Speech was brilliant, it brought tears to my eyes – it said all the right things.

“It was frustrating when my stammer developed, I used to have pieces of paper with my name on or the name of a station I needed to go to.

“It seemed strange to me that God called me to ministry when my speech was at its worst but I had a very powerful healing experience – it is important to receive support and encouragement.

“You feel a sense of vulnerability within you when you have a stammer, but you make sure that you get the words out and you make sure that those words are positive and encouraging – that has always been an incentive for me.”

Swindon’s speech and language therapist Claire McNeil, who will be running a new group for adult stammerers starting at Easter, said: “The film is excellent because it highlights the difficulties of stammering. People don’t really appreciate how difficult it can be for someone who stammers and I think it really shows how you have to really work at it.

“It was really helpful from our point of view because it is getting stammering talked about.

“We have a specialist service in Swindon for children and adults who stammer so we are very lucky – other areas don’t have as good a service as we’ve got. Within the speech and language world, Swindon is very well known.”

As well as a self-referral specialist service, there is the Fluency Trust – a registered charity set up in 1995 in conjunction with the NHS to provide intensive courses to overcome the difficulties stammering can cause.

With just one per cent of adults suffering from a stammering problem, compared to five per cent of children, Claire encouraged parents who are concerned about their children to refer them to a speech therapy sooner rather than later in a bid to nip the problem in the bud.

Also bringing the issue to people’s attention is a new project in the town which has been helping youngsters overcome their stammers.

Evil Twin Artworks, in conjunction with the Fluency Trust, has been working with young people aged between eight and 16 to create a short animated film.

Entitled The Stammurai, it is due to be officially launched at the Empire Cinema in Greenbridge on Sunday, February 13.

To seek help for a stammer, or to find out more information about the classes starting at Easter, call the NHS Swindon Speech and Language Team on 01793 439960 or visit the British Stammering Association website, www.stammering.org.