Vodafone's New App Uses Rap to Help Stuttering Children Communicate

Vodafone, in collaboration with DDB & Tribal Amsterdam, the Dutch Stuttering Federation (NFS) and stutter ambassador singer Sanne Hans, has developed an app called ‘Get The Flow’ that helps children to speak more fluently by using specially created rap exercises.

About 5% of children in the Netherlands stutter. That’s one kid in every classroom. Vodafone wants to give these children a tool to connect to each other and help them communicate better.

The app’s objective is to train your speech in a fun way and to boost children’s self-confidence, as rapping is a good way to support speech fluency. Rap provides guidance, a rhythm, a flow and you improves your vocabulary, which really helps children who stutter. At the same time, the app lets children connect, as they can duo-rap together. This lessens the feeling that they are the only one who stutters.

Famous Dutch rappers including Ali B, Broederliefde, Sevn Alias, Kevin, Soufiane Eddyani and Jairzinho contributed to the app. Special rap lyrics were written that make use of tongue twisters, vowels, consonants and alliterations that are hard to pronounce for children who stutter.

“We are very happy about this initiative. Especially for these kids, for whom self-confidence is an important issue, there isn’t a lot of fun training material,” says Anja van der Vlist, Dutch Stuttering Federation (NFS). “Rapping helps you focus on speech flow which makes talking easier. Rhythm is also an important element that can improve fluency. We hope that this app helps children to speak more easily. This is a fun and playful way to practice your speech skills.”

Ed van Bennekom, Creative Director DDB & Tribal Worldwide, Amsterdam, said: "It’s great to see that brands can add real value to people’s lives. In the case of Vodafone, a telecommunications brand that helps children who stutter to communicate better. It’s magical to witness that when children start rapping, their stutter disappears. We think that using something kids enjoy, like rap as a tool to battle stuttering will really motivate these kids to practice their speech skills more often and reduce their stutter.”

To illustrate how rapping can help children who stutter, Vodafone created a short film starring Mitchell, a 12-year-old boy from Volendam who was first to use the app.

‘Get The Flow’ reinforces Powerful Connections, Vodafone’s brand engagement programme, in which the network provider shows how technology connects people and changes their lives for the better.

The app and online video was developed in partnership with DDB & Tribal Worldwide, Amsterdam.

‘Get The Flow’ is available for Android and free to download.