Aberdeen man reveals how he made his stammer stutter to a halt

A 38-year-old man from Aberdeen has said that an alternative stuttering therapy has “changed and transformed” his life for the better.

Scott Ingram, who lives in the Rosemount area of the city and works as a purchasing administrator in Westhill, realised he had a stutter back in 2010.

Explaining, he said: “Back then I started to notice that my speech wasn’t right. I wasn’t speaking right or sounding right and I was starting to not pronounce words and sounds correctly.”

To help with his stutter, Mr Ingram decided to take part in the McGuire Programme back in October 2012.

It was founded in 1994 by Dave McGuire – who stutters himself – and a small group of people who shared his vision of creating a supportive and effective programme to help.

Since being founded 30 years ago, the organisation has “grown into a global network of individuals who share a common goal of helping people who stutter achieve eloquence and confidence.”

Past participants of the programme include Pop Idol runner up Gareth Gates, Wet Wet Wet guitarist Graeme Duffin and former Scotland rugby captain Kelly Brown.

In total, Mr Ingram has attended 17 courses, with his first one being in Dundee and his last one being last month in Manchester.

He says he “got a lot out” of each and every session.

‘A new way of breathing and speaking’

Mr Ingram, who also has Asperger’s syndrome, explained how the McGuire Programme works.

“They teach you a new way of breathing and a new way of speaking,” he said.

“The new way of breathing is costal (shallow) breathing, where people breathe from the the costal diaphragm. It’s also the same type of breathing that opera singers use, like Luciano Pavarotti or Andrea Bocelli among many, many others.

“When they breathe and speak, they use costal breathing and the costal diaphragm, which produces a more powerful speaking voice and gives you more control over your stammer, or just your voice in general.

“They teach you various and numerous weapons and techniques to counteract the stammer, because the stammer uses various physical weapons and psychological weapons against you.

“You can then speak in control of your stammer, rather than your stammer controlling you.”

In November last year, Mr Ingram won the Bill Bottle Memorial Trophy in recognition of his hard work with speech and raising awareness of stammering.

He said: “The programme has massively benefitted me and massively helped my speech.”