About the Author: Penny Farrell lives in Ireland and is a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) who now works as Youth Development Officer with the Irish Stammering Association. Penny has also been involved with various stammering pride activities and is one of the founder members of the Irish Stammering Association ‘Brod Staidearachta’ (Stammering Pride) group. Penny is an advocate and ally with the stammering community. Penny especially wants to help develop and expand the community of young people who stammer. She is interested in creating safe, supportive spaces that prioritise fun, joy, confidence and creativity. This led to starting a Minecraft club for children who stammer – a free weekly Minecraft club has been running since Autumn 2021, and an additional monthly club with the Irish Stammering Association since Winter 2022.

I would like to share our experience of using Minecraft clubs for children who stammer to create opportunities for our young stammering community to meet and connect with each other. There are wonderful initiatives around the globe for children who stammer to meet and get together, but ‘One Size Does Not Fit All’. This means there is space for novel ideas to help our young stammering community connect in new ways! Our Minecraft clubs have generated lots of interest and are lots of fun, so there might be some other groups or organisations that want to know more about it so they can start their own!

In 2021, when we were all getting creative with ways to connect online, I was working as an SLT via teletherapy and wanted to connect some of the children who stammer that I was working with. None of these children had met another child who stammers and I hoped to start a social group for them to meet each other, build a small community and develop a positive identity about stammering. I tried a Zoom meeting and played some online group activities but the groups were all very quiet and it was hard to get them chatting naturally with each other. It ended up feeling adult-led because it was hard for this particular group to generate natural conversations with each other in an online environment when they didn’t know each other and didn’t have a group objective or common purpose.

I hoped to find an activity where the children felt comfortable and conversation would naturally flow. I asked the group what they liked to do in their free time and they all mentioned video games. So I decided to tap into an environment that resonated with them – gaming.

There are plenty of video games out there, but I needed a game that met my list of criteria! It needed to be:

• Affordable
• Capable of a facilitating a group of at least 6-8 players
• Compatible to join from different devices/platforms eg XBox, Nintendo Switch, PlayStations, Tablets, Phones
• A game without any violence or being overly competitive
• Ideally a cooperative game so that the group needed to work together
• Involve gameplay that facilitated talking and interaction so that we didn’t get absorbed completely in the game and not feel connected with one another

I began to research ideas and realised that Minecraft matched all the criteria! Minecraft is a popular video game where players use blocks to build and explore virtual worlds, like a digital version of LEGO with only square-shaped blocks. There are two modes – survival and creative. Survival mode is competitive: players must mine for all the materials to create tools, craft materials, and combat mobs (creatures). However, in our clubs, we always play in ‘Creative’ and ‘Peaceful’ mode. This gives players immediate access to ALL the blocks and content in the game. There are no mobs and players cannot get injured or killed. This means the game is used from a purely creative perspective, to use the myriad block types to create our very own world!

There was a certain amount of technical exploration for me at the start. I began to research how to set up a private Minecraft world that could connect players from different devices and control who could access it. I have included more information about this at the end so you can skip that part if you’re not into the tech side of things! If you are thinking of running a Minecraft club with your group/organisation, it might save you some time by learning from my own trial-and-error!

I started the first Minecraft club meetup in Autumn 2021 with 6 players from all around Ireland. Two years later, 5 of the original players still actively participate, demonstrating the lasting interest and impact the club has had. I now run an additional Minecraft club with the Irish Stammering Association which has been popular with a regular member base and regularly have new members joining in. I was invited to consult with STAMMA to get their own Minecraft club going and now our clubs are hoping to link up and visit each other’s worlds as part of this year’s ISAD celebrations!

My approach was informed by a child-led philosophy so that participants could explore their creativity and individuality in an environment where: ‘it’s okay to stammer’ and everyone has as much time as they need to say what they want to say. The group is for young people who stammer, but not directly about stammering. It is a safe and supportive space to have fun together and incidentally hear other children stammer.

Depending on the size of the group, we work as a whole group or split into smaller teams. We use Zoom or Discord for voice chat while we play (shout to Vinnie from Stamily for helping me set up Discord!). We begin by discussing what to build and sharing ideas on how to construct our design idea. Some players choose to build their own designs but will come and visit the work being done by the group and join in conversations about it. There is a lovely sense of belonging and involvement as children work to create something together and contribute to our club’s world.

The nature of Minecraft in creative mode lends itself really well to cooperative play; it fosters comradery, group creativity, and natural communication as the group work on their building projects together.  The children are often so occupied with designing, building, chatting about their projects, and sharing tips, they appear less self-conscious of speaking and are authentically engaged in their conversations with one another. Some children are chatty and others are quiet, but either way, they are very much included and involved throughout the club meetup, as they participate and contribute together in the game.

There is a strong emphasis on creativity and collaboration. Participants are not just gamers but builders, designers, architects, problem-solvers, and artists. They create their own alternative world with their buildings and sets which are also used for role-play scenarios. It sparks their imagination and problem-solving abilities.

The players are very encouraging and supportive of each other. When new members join, they get a tour from those who have been before. If someone is stuck on their build, others will pitch in with ideas and suggestions or give tech support! They admire each other’s work and compliment each other as a natural part of the game play. They chat about tips and ideas from Minecraft YouTubers they follow. The conversations often segue onto other topics and we end up chatting about all sorts of things. However, there have been times when the energy of the group has been low, and we have built in companionable quietness, working together on our joint creative project.

As the world has grown over time, it is really wonderful to explore and visit the amazing creations within it. Here are some examples of the ingenuity of our club members!

 Perspectives:

 Over the past couple of years, many of the children have made similar comments after joining the club: it was really fun; it was amazing to hear another child talking like they did; they realised that they are not ‘the only one’. This is so powerful and such a valuable gain from the group.

 I have collected some feedback from the club members and parents to share their perspectives:

 Parents feedback: 

“He had a brilliant time. He was all chat about it afterwards! It’s an amazing opportunity for him to interact with other kids who communicate like he does.”

 “I wasn’t too keen at the thought of more screen time but he loves Minecraft and seemed really excited. He is usually reluctant to join clubs so I was glad he was interested. He loves to join each time and asks when the next one is.”    

 “My son has found the minecraft club great for connecting with others who stammer, he would otherwise not have had an opportunity to meet with other kids of the same age range who face similar challenges, he found it reassuring to know there were others in the same situation. The club is really inclusive with no pressure to be vocal, the kids are so comfortable playing and creating the conversation occurs without much effort”

“It’s so nice for him to see representation in such a natural way and through his interests. There’s never any demand or expectations and between the stammer and autism, he finds it hard to get groups where he can just be himself. There’s never a question whether he will join every week, it’s so lovely to hear him chatting away in his room”

 It’s great to see how much our daughter looks forward to the Minecraft sessions, and is so open to participating in such a welcoming environment. The social engagement has been such an important addition to her life. We’d recommend it to any child with a stammer.” 

Children’s Feedback:

“I really like the club so I can build cool things… we’ve made loads of stuff now…I love flying around and seeing what we did and thinking oh yeah, that was so fun building that one”

“Mam tells me it’s time to play Minecraft – that never happens! I like seeing my friends and building with them”

“I like the club. No I haven’t met anyone else who stammers before. It was nice to know I’m not the only one”.

“Penny talks to us and puts surprise cakes everywhere. She loves doing that…My favourite bit is when we finish building and we all visit and look around at everything. Wow we built this. Yeah! I want to be a Minecraft YouTuber”

“This realm is full of exciting sculptures, brilliant buildings and terrific train tracks. ENJOY!”

“I didn’t know people stammered differently, it’s interesting to hear how the others talk and how they stammer on different letters to me and it sounds kind of the same but different to mine”. 

In summary, the Minecraft club for children who stammer is a demonstration of the theme that “One Size Does Not Fit All”. We can combine video games with a child-led approach to create dynamic spaces that encourage creativity, self-expression, and community-building. The success and long-lasting interest in the club highlights the benefits of organising novel activities for our young stammering community that cater to diverse interests, needs and preferences. In the realm of Minecraft, children discover the joy of imagination and creation but also a sense of belonging, in both the Minecraft world and the stammering world! They come to realise they are not alone in their stammering journey… and we have amazing fun while we’re at it!

Now for the technical part…! There are two versions of Minecraft – Bedrock and Java. Bedrock is the version that can be played from different types of devices. Minecraft has an endless number of public Worlds to join, but these are managed by other people and anyone can play in them. There are ways to create a private World where members are added by invite-only and the game can be managed directly by the host. I started off hosting my own server but it was not possible for players with certain devices to join from, so I now use the Minecraft server with a Realms Plus subscription. It has the option to create invites for new members, and the membership list can be managed easily. It is the simplest and most accessible option at the moment. When creating the world, make sure to select Creative and Peaceful mode. There is more to say about the settings for the world to manage griefing, which is a mischievous form of destruction in Minecraft (kids will be kids!). My advice is to turn off Fire Spreads and TNT, and to change all players’ status to ‘Visitor’ between sessions to protect the world between club sessions.

I hope you/your organisation gives it a try and you have lots of fun in the process! 

PS. This is a video presenting the project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7qOmofS_Mo