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From: Anita
Date: 10/22/02
Time: 8:40:57 AM
Remote Name: 195.67.213.98
For the children camp in Sweden the ages is (mostly) 7-13. For the youth camp it's (mostly) 13-25 (may vary, depending on the person). At the European youth camps it's 18-25 (we like them to be adults for legal reasons). It's hard to set an exact age, as it depends on the person. A 12YO can be childish or very mature. A 7YO might not want to leave mummy and be with us. A 27YO might fit in a teen group. You just never know. Therefor we like to inform about the camps as much as possible, so that they know what to expect. For the European camp, we like them to write a letter and tell us a little bit about themselves and what they expect. But the most important thing is not the programme, but to meet others. To know they are not alone. To realize a life with stuttering is not neccessarily doomed to be boring and filled with sadness. I think those children who don't want to come are afraid to be alone, to leave the parents, to have to do speech training, psychological test or other MUST things. There are no MUST during these camps other than to be a part of the family in all it's meanings (which includes no fighting, give a hand etc). When they leave they had FUN. They found out they didn't need their parents to hide behind. That we didn't expect any fluency. And that it was ok to talk about stuttering and finally be able to ask all the thousand questions they had. And maybe the most important thing: that there is hope!
Anita