By /

To: Stuttering Community
From: Keith Boss
Regarding: February 2015 eNewsflash

Current and future e-NewsflashesFacebook_like_thumb

We have changed the way we link up with you. We use Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/isastutter) much more. Our e-newsflash (https://www.isastutter.org/news/e-newsflash), and One Voice (https://www.isastutter.org/news/one-voice-newsletter) are now notified to you via Facebook. Please add us to your favourites; please look at our Facebook page often; please contribute; tell us what you like or want improved; click on LIKE whenever possible. Comment about https://www.facebook.com/isastutter on your own Facebook page and ask your readers to visit and LIKE us! Tell us how we can help you or your local group. Let us know if you have any ideas about how to improve our Facebook use.

Message for 2015we need you

In recent months, the ISA has been reaching out to more PWS and SLPs/SLTs around the world. We have some momentum building up. We wish to keep and increase this momentum in order to help more PWS.

In the ‘Help we Need’ section below I hope you find a task you can help us with and make 2015 a very memorable year for your ISA.

WE NEED YOU

Help we Need

As mentioned above we have begun to pick up momentum and we want to continue this momentum and hope we can increase the speed so we can help more needy PWS in more under-served countries.

The tasks we need help with can be limited to sending pre-written emails to a specific list of email addresses (so good access to a computer with a good firewall and anti virus program). This will take only a few minutes, not more than 30 minutes, each week once a pattern is established.

  • Sending emails to Member Associations about ISA business as requested by the ISA Chair or an ISA Board member authorised to send emails (6 or 8) needed;
  • Sending ISA Outreach Africa emails to specific PWS / SLTs as requested by the African Project Leaders (APL) team;

If you wish, it can be more:-

  • Become a member of the APL team (5 or 6 needed);
    Receive directions from the APL;
    Manage those volunteers who agreed to send the emails;
    Concentrate on up to 10 African Countries each.
    A mixture of any of the above tasks.

If you wish, it can be more:-

  • Do you have experience in managing websites and the interest to gain more experience helping the ISA to upgrade our website? Would you like to join the ISA web-team?
  • Do you have experience in fundraising and the interest to gain more experience in helping our fundraising team to raise money for future planned projects?

If you wish, it can be even more:-

There are 16 months left for the Current Board of Directors. At the World Congress in 2016 a new Board will be elected. There are a few vacancies for the next 16 months and there will be 9 vacancies in 2016. If you can spare 30 – 60 minutes each week and your national association pays the annual fees and you have not served on the ISA Board for more than 6 years,

  • Would you like to offer your name for the next 16 months to get experience on the ISA Board of Directors?
  • Would you like to offer your name in July 2016 to get experience on the ISA Board of Directors?

If you need more information on any of the above 7 opportunities to develop your CV, please contact me at keithmaxkb@yahoo.com.

Africa

As explained in the last e-newsflash, we have a new project in Africa. ISA Outreach Africa. This is focusing on countries in Africa where we have either PWS or SLT/SLP contacts. We engage with our contacts to see if we can find someone living locally in the country to lead a choice of initiatives aimed at helping PWS to help themselves. We have a dynamic list of tasks which in our experience is a good progression through the process of depending on help to being guided to only being assisted and finally to be independent of help. We would like Africans in different Countries to work with us to set up their own national websites / Self Help Groups and national associations, to name but a few. In time each Country can have meetings of Self Help Groups and then hold National meetings.  As in Rwanda, where there are not enough SLTs, it would be good to set up online therapy and online group discussions possibly via a National University with their better computer facilities and bandwidth. We are finding out more about what professional help is available in Africa, because a small number of African Universities give or are planning to give SLT/SLP courses to train new SLTs/SLPs. We are currently in communication with local SLTs to gain more precise knowledge of what is going on where and if more help / advice may be useful. If you want to work on these ideas in your Country and will take a leadership role, then please contact Hanan at hanan.hurwitz@gmail.com who is project leader for this work. More in the next e-newsflash.

ISA Business

Our Treasurer has sent out invoices for 2014. If you have not paid yet, please do so. All members’ fees are strictly monitored to ensure money is spent only on ISA necessities (e.g.website) and helping PWS to attend conferences. We are starting new projects this year, which will require fundraising, but members’ fees will not be used. Please pay as soon as possible. Thank you, your payments are valuable.  If you need help, please contact our Treasurer Árni at arniheimiringimundarson@yahoo.com A payment can be made by PayPal now.

Website. We need your thoughts on what you want to see in the ISA website. We are looking for ideas on content. (We also need extra volunteers to join our web team). Do you want to test drive our Test website and comment on it based on your website experience?

World Congress 2016. We are looking at dates around July 5th – 10th 2016. Currently we are looking at Atlanta GA near the East Coast. A hotel has been arranged. The Hyatt Regency on Peachtree Avenue. More as soon as possible.

Stuttering Therapies

There is difficulty in reaching SLPs/SLTs who will share therapy treatments, so I will work with the IFA as an ex-0fficio member of their Instruction and Training Committee http://www.theifa.org/index.php/committee to see what plans the IFA has to instruct and train SLPs/SLTs.

Would PWS contact me with details of any additional therapy that worked for them? Thank you.

My warmest wishes to you all, and I look forward to working closely with more of you,

Keith
Keith Boss (Chair International Stuttering Association (ISA))