cbeebies bedtime story hello my name's ed and when I was little I had a stutter and that means when
I spoke sometimes the words got a bit stuck on the way out and it made me feel different
because you know i'd be in school and the teacher would ask a question that I would
know the answer to and I put my hand in the air and then when it came to my turn to answer
I couldn't get the words out and i used to worry that i'd never be able to speak without stuttering
but now I sing and I talk to people all the time sometimes to lots of people perhaps you
have a stutter too or you know someone who does well tonight's bedtime story is just for you
it's about a little boy who has a stutter just like I did it's called I Talk Like A
River and it's by Jordan Scott and Sydney Smith I wake up each morning with the sound of words
all around me P for the pine tree outside my bedroom window C for the crow in its branches
M for the moon fading in the morning sky I wake up each morning with the sound of words all around me
and I can't say them all the P in the pine tree grows roots inside my mouth and tangles my tongue
the C is a crow that sticks in the back of my throat the M in moon dusts my lips with magic
that only makes me mumble I wake up in the morning with these word sounds stuck in my mouth
I stay as quiet as a stone I eat my porridge without a peep
I get ready for the day without a word at school I hide in the back of the class I hope I don't
have to talk when my teacher asks me a question all of my classmates they turn around and look
they don't see a pine tree sticking out from my lips instead of a tongue
they don't hear a crow caw caw from inside my throat they don't hide their eyes from
the moonlight that shines from my open mouth all they hear is how I don't talk like them
and all they see is how strange my face looks and that I can't hide how scared I am my mouth
isn't working and it's full of words of the morning mornings are always hard but this one
is especially tough i'm more stuck than ever my teacher says we all have to talk about our
favourite place in the world today is my turn but my mouth isn't working and I want to go home
my dad picks me up from school it's just a bad speech day he says let's go somewhere quiet
my dad takes me to the river and we walk along the shore looking for colourful rocks and water bugs
and it feels good to be quiet and alone with my dad but I can't stop thinking
about my bad speech today all those eyes watching my lips twist and twirl
and all those mouths giggling and laughing I feel a storm in my belly and my eyes fill with rain
my dad sees i'm sad and pulls me close he points to the river and says you see how that water moves
that's how you speak I look at the water bubbling churning
whirling and crashing my dad says I talk like a river and this is what I like to remember
to help stop myself from crying I talk like a river or from not wanting to speak at all
I talk like a river when the words around me are hard to say I think of the proud river bubbling
churning whirling and crashing and I also think of the calm river beyond the rapids
where the water is smooth and glistening this is how my mouth moves this is how I speak even the
river stutters like I do and I wake up in the morning with the sound of words all around me
I go to school and I tell the class about my favourite place in the world I talk about the
river and I talk like a river what a brilliant way of thinking about a stutter words are like
a river sometimes flowing sometimes bubbling over stones but always moving forward if you talk like
a river too or you know someone who does I hope that story helped you now it's time for you to go
to bed and i'm going to imagine drifting along a beautiful river in a pretty little boat good night
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