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Research has shown that up to 8% of children will stammer at some point in their life, and this will stay as a lifelong condition for 1%. This means that there could be over 800 young people in our schools who stammer. It is sometimes difficult to know who these students are as many choose to hide it due to embarrassment and fear of being bullied. Many students go their entire school journey without any intervention - this was the case for Abed when he was a student. Abed Ahmed, who is head of the mathematics faculty at King Edward VI Handsworth Wood Girls Academy, has a stammer and is keen to support young people across the MAT and Foundation who stammer also. Abed says: “I would love to work with students across all our schools who stammer, to create a support group (who could meet online, at least for the time being), to help improve their confidence and empower them.” Abed is experienced in running these groups, and has also previously run awareness-raising sessions with staff to help identify students who might benefit from joining the support groups. You can see Abed being interviewed on This Morning and speaking about the work he has done with students on BBC Three. Sarah Hinksman, collaboration manager, says: “This is a fantastic opportunity to make a massive difference to the confidence and therefore the lives of some of our students, by using Abed’s skills and experience which he is generously sharing across our schools.” To find out more, or discuss how to get your students involved, contact Abed directly on [email protected] and feel free to share any messages on the Basecamp forum.