«I stammer - so what?»
The worst thing is when everyone is talking out of turn, there is unrest, but he still has something to say. Then Silvan comes under pressure. And the words in his throat falter. With all his strength, he pushes them up over his tongue, out into the open. Wa-wa-wait doooo...ch times. The words don't follow him voluntarily. They never did. Silvan Vögele, 15, from Brugg AG has stuttered since he was three years old.
«Just a month ago it was so annoying, I was really embarrassed,» says the teenager slowly, clearly and with great effort. Silvan sits on the meadow in the shade of a large tree. His gaze sweeps down over the hilly landscape. From up here, he can see Lake Constance. He is spending a week at the stuttering camp in Tägerwilen TG together with eleven other young people from Switzerland, Germany and Austria. The camp is organised by the Intercantonal University for Special Needs Education Zurich HfH and the Medical Academy Freiburg im Breisgau.
Here, young people like Silvan can learn a new way of dealing with stuttering and techniques to improve their fluency in a safe, relaxed atmosphere. «We don't make any promises of a cure,» emphasises speech therapist and HfH lecturer Wolfgang G. Braun, one of the camp's directors.
Around five per cent of all people stutter at some point in their lives, many of them only during a brief phase in childhood. In about one per cent of those affected, stammering persists into adolescence and they are likely to stammer for the rest of their lives.
Wolfgang Braun blows loudly on his whistle. One by one, the young people give up their shady seats and gather on the large meadow. 34 people are accommodated in the stuttering camp in colourful circus wagons: young people, carers, helpers and speech therapy students, who each act as a mentor to one of the 12 young participants.
Most of those affected realise exactly where their stuttering is located.
«Good morning ...... everyone,» says Karl Schneider, camp director and headmaster of the Medical Academy Freiburg, welcoming the participants and reiterating all three mottos developed over the previous days. Today is the in-depth day of the camp week. Karl Schneider also stutters, in a relaxed, relaxed manner. But what sounds like a speech impediment to the listener is intentional and a demonstration that stuttering is not only okay here, but - instead of simply being eliminated - should be consciously channelled into a relaxed form.
It all depends on the speaking technique
Sailing, diving, climbing, building a tree house - in addition to the classic speech therapy exercises, the young people have a lot on offer. «But we are not a holiday camp for stutterers,» says Wolfgang G. Braun. The combination of speech therapy approaches with elements of experiential education and psychomotor skills is a deliberate choice. Wolfgang G. Braun: «On the climbing wall, the young people first do everything with strength and are exhausted after an hour. It's the same with speaking. Climbing teaches them that everything is easier with the right technique. That can be wonderfully transferred to speaking.»
Silvan thinks that's cool. He didn't want to take part at first. His therapy career was long and frustrating. Weekly sessions with the speech therapist, special needs kindergarten, then speech therapy schools. None of this did him any good, he says. On the contrary, a specialist once recommended that he see a psychologist. She accused him of refusing to learn because he hadn't done his homework. That was enough for him. «I stopped all speech therapy when I was 14,» he says.
Today he goes to breathing therapy - and is making great progress. «There are days when I don't stutter at all.» And then there are those moments again when he is tired, when things are hectic. Then buying a ticket at the railway ticket office becomes a pain, an event with lots of strangers becomes a gauntlet.
«Hello, what flavours of ice cream do you have?» Silvan looks intently at the display. After the saleswoman has finished her list, he makes his choice and says thank you. His patron Nina Biastoch, 28, nods approvingly at him. No blockage, he spoke slowly and deliberately. Buying ice cream together in the village is one of the real-life practical tasks that the camp participants have to master in Tägerwilen.
Nina Biastoch says that most of those affected realise exactly where their stuttering is located, how it feels when it catches them cold again.
Every stutterer pursues their own tactics
Like Alina Simon from Kaufbeuren in Germany. «I can feel it in the back of my throat,» says the 16-year-old, reaching for the place that sometimes makes her life so difficult. When the words start with E and O, she often has problems, she says. Then the secondary school pupil looks for other, easier ones that don't get stuck in her throat. Speaking with her friends works well. «Not so much when the teachers ask me long questions.» Presentations are bad when all eyes are on her. The classic. Alina's father also stuttered as a child. The predisposition to stammering can be inherited, which is why stammering tends to run in families. Is her brother also affected? Alina: «No, he's actually really articulate, he talks faster and faster. And I can hardly keep up.» That's why she often gets the short end of the stick in arguments. It's frustrating, but not a drama.
Attending Year 5 was a drama for Alina. Her teacher had no sympathy for her pupil's speaking difficulties. «Pull yourself together!» she urges the girl. Alina bursts into tears and ends up not speaking at all. It only gets better when she changes class teacher.
«Hello, I'd like to exchange these trousers, they're too big."
The shop assistant flicks through her documents, bored. «We don't do that for hygiene reasons.»
«But I have the right to exchange my purchase for 14 days ......»
"Oh yeah? Then show me your receipt ...»
Alina's godmother laughs and ends the role play. The two of them sit on the grass. «Have you noticed? You've eased the tension a bit, even though I was so rude to you,» says Liszi Paschner, 27, approvingly. «It's important that you keep calm even more, speak softly, stop when you're blocked and start again with a soft voice.» - «But when I'm angry, I don't speak softly.» Liszi Paschner encourages Alina: «That's why we practise it, so that it's more automatic and you can use it more easily.»
Each person has their own tactics. Jannik Wienecke, 15, from Constance is trying to find a different speaking rhythm. Playing the drums helps him. «The worst thing is when I'm asked to participate verbally in class,» says the secondary school pupil. «Then I feel this pressure and slip into a blockade.» But most teachers are considerate, wait patiently or ask if another pupil should continue. What helps? Take a short break, wait, breathe in and continue speaking in a relaxed manner. That's what he learnt at the camp.
The therapeutic exercises are playful, but very intensive. «The young people work hard,» says Wolfgang G. Braun. His whistle blows for the second time. Lunchtime. Over fish fingers with potatoes and lentils, the participants talk about the morning. «The ice cream shopping went really well,» says Silvan proudly. He is now well aware of his handicap. It belongs to him. Nevertheless, his big goal is to become as stutter-free as possible. «I'm starting an apprenticeship as a butcher in the autumn, then I want to become a butcher and farmer and open my own butcher's shop and abattoir on my own farm. You have a lot of customer contact there.» A lofty goal. Silvan is confident that he will achieve it.
Read more:
- Interview mit Wolfgang Braun: «Das Stottern wächst nicht raus»
- In der aktuellen Printausgabe 08/17 finden Sie den Bericht einer Journalistin, die über ihr eigenes Stottern und ihr Tricksen beim Sprechen schreibt - sehr bewegend! Die Ausgabe können Sie hier bestellen.
Der Besuch des Stottercamps fand im Sommer 2015 statt. Wir haben den Artikel aktualisiert und ergänzt.