Here is what happened in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia at and around International Stuttering Awareness Day this year.

 

Second year students of a very young Logopedics Study Programme at the University of Mostar heard my personal story of stuttering. My story inspired a young student to share his personal experience with stuttering with his fellow students for the first time and we had a lot of questions and positive comments. All students were advised to go to the ISA ISAD website, to read stories published there and we’ll discuss what the most impressed them at our next meeting after October 22nd.

 

An online round table event was organised on October 22nd, by The City of Zagreb, the Croatian Logopedic’s Association, the Department of SLP at the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences at the  University of Zagreb and Zagreb Children’s Hospital. People who stutter and are SLP or a parent of a child who stutters, school and nursery teachers and an SLP specialising in fluency disorders shared their personal experiences and stories of stuttering and with working with people who stutter. We had over 200 participants.

 

The night before ISAD, on October 21st, the city fountains in Zagreb city centre were lit in teal green. This was the first time since we started celebrating ISAD in Croatia in 2000 that this has happened. The Zagreb mayor, Mr. Milan Bandić was there and in his speech to the media he expressed his willingness to support early intervention for children who stutter.

 

ISAD was very well covered by Croatian media: The Croatian national television HTV1 main news, HTV4 news and current affairs, the County of Zagreb radio station and a local TV Jabuka.

 

The young Bosnia and Herzegovinian Association for PWS organised a Google meeting tonight with over 20 participants. Guest speakers were an SLP who stutters and a psychologist who stutters, Emilija Milanović and Slađana Cvetković. After their stories and professional advice, there was a very good discussion.