Sir, – As a stammerer from Ireland, I was heartbroken to read Fintan O'Toole's article "Did The Irish Times 'No Child 2020' project work?" (Analysis, December 21st).
I have read many articles in the last couple of years about so many children on waiting lists for speech therapy in Ireland.
To learn of the 19,000 children currently on the waiting list for speech and language services was disheartening.
Growing up in Cork as a stammerer, I know first-hand that Ireland lags behind in speech therapy. I wish to recommend the website of the US-based charity the Stuttering Foundation (stammeringhelp.org) which provide diverse free resources such as books for downloads as well as many streaming videos. In addition the site has biographical articles on famous stammerers in the Irish diaspora, such as Mancunian Irishman Noel Gallagher, Irish-American author Dominick Dunne, and Irish-Cuban writer Calvert Casey. Stammering is the most common child speech problem so I thought parents would be interested in knowing about this website. – Yours, etc,
COLM RUANE,
Bronx,
New York.