NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Many of the kids attending a special summer camp can go all year without a chance to spend time with someone facing a similar experience. This week that's not the case.
This is a story about a pink otter named Larry. Well. We'll get to him.
"Find a place where you guys want to rehearse!" camp associate director Jack Henderson called to a group of kids. "Today's the day we go from, 'this is going to be our story to now we're performing this in two days!' Got it? Rock n' roll!"
This is the third year of a summer camp for 14-year-old Tylor Kirisits.
"So, who's playing the role of the crab?" Tylor called out.
It's called Camp T.A.L.K.S., and it's held by Vanderbilt Health's Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences.
"Camp T.A.L.K.S., at its core, is a place where kids and teens who stutter can feel heard," Henderson said. "They can speak openly without fear of being cutoff, having their words finished for them."
Campers broke into groups as they wrote a play they'll perform at the end of the week.
"This is mostly the storyboard," Tylor said, holding up a sheet.
Tylor's crew has come up with this show about pirates searching for golden Uno cards, with the only thing standing in their way being, yes, Larry the Pink Otter.
"Every year it's completely original!" Henderson laughed. "It's very much them. That's a huge part of this, to get them to experience the sound of their own voice."
"So, who's playing the pink otter?" I asked the crew.
"We haven't found that out yet!" Tylor answered. "I feel like that could be one of the counselors!"
By the way, Tylor's playing a crab. How does one study for that role?
"Uh, crab walk," Tylor shrugged.
Ah. Method acting.
Having a Camp T.A.L.K.S. is something Henderson wishes he had as a kid. He also has a stutter.
"It would have meant that the way I talk wasn't broken," Henderson said. "It would have meant not living in a world where I never heard someone like me. It would have just helped buoy me through the difficult times. It's not easy being a person who stutters. This is a place where they're in the majority."
Henderson asked the campers to take a little time to write letters to their stutter.
"Every person who stutters has a very complicated relationship with their own stuttering," Henderson said. "Just stuttering is a very vulnerable experience, and talking about how they feel about that is a vulnerable experience. This is for you. This is for you to engage with yourself, to engage with the way you feel about your stuttering. I know very intimately the cost of concealment and shame and suppression around stuttering. I also know what it feels like to start hearing your voice and not hating it."
This is a week for that sort of expression, those feelings and creativity; pink otters named Larry and all.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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