Laura Ludmany
I don’t think fluent speakers could ever really understand what the life of a stammerer can be like. I started to stammer when I was 3 years old. I went through a couple of speech therapies and what I gained – or rather learnt by myself – is how to hide my stammer. I avoided […]
Simon Madden
There used to be a time when I could only dream about being a strong speaker. To dream about being able to say what I want when I want. Thanks to the McGuire Programme, those dreams have very much become a reality. My mother always said to me “Simon, I’ll keep looking until we find […]
Sandra McGroary
My name is Sandra McGroary. I have had a stammer for as long as I can remember. One could say my life has been an emotional roller coaster in relation to my stammer. I lived in fear of it daily and because of this I avoided many speaking situations and missed out on many great […]
Sam Anderson
It’s September 1997, my first day at secondary school. I didn’t sleep at all for two nights previously, worrying about my first day and how I would cope with my speech. I’d had a stammer all my life but to be honest, prior to secondary school it didn’t really affect or bother me too much. […]
P J Daly
PJ Daly is my name and I began the McGuire Programme on the 5th of August 2009. Up until that day my stammer gave me serious bother all of the time, even in very simple situations. The McGuire Programme has effectively taken me out of the depths of despair and has given me a newfound […]
Noel Leader
I have been a covert stammerer throughout my life, though I did not know it. I was just trying to find ways to speak without feeling embarrassed but it didn’t work too well. Growing up was not always easy. There were a lot of avoiding fearful situations but being involved in sports made me outgoing […]
Niall Berrington
I joined The McGuire Programme hoping that it would cure my stutter and it would be the answer to all my problems. During the opening presentation of the course, I painfully realised how naive I was. One of the first messages you are thought of is that there is no cure for stuttering. I was […]
Megan Gribben
It’s extremely hard for me to put into words what this programme has done for me. I joined this programme at the age of 17, I was scared, embarrassed and ashamed of having a stammer, or being different from everyone my age! I had a multitude of tricks and avoidance behaviours. The first time I […]
Kevin Lynch
Hi, my name is Kevin Lynch. I’m currently doing a research job in UCD. I did my first course in 1998, in March in Dublin, which was led by Dave McGuire. I was in my late teens when I joined the programme. My stammer was moderate to bad and overt. I had tried a number […]
James Walsh
Stuttering had always been the thing that defined me, often negatively I can admit. I was lucky to grow up in a supportive family and go to schools where I did not get any grief because of my speech. Despite this, I lacked any bit of confidence when it came to my speech. During all of […]