“There is rarely one cause in stuttering”
In Charente, some stories draw …
“There is rarely one cause in stuttering”
In Charente, certain stories draw trajectories forged in the shadow of a disorder, some factors of which are clearly identified today: “Genetics, the environment, the existence of health concerns, autism”, states Véronique Ehlers, active member of the Boinete speech association in Charente. “It’s part of Neuro Development disorders,” said Christine Tournier.
Véronique Ehlers (at g.) Lived a career as a teacher, concealing her stuttering most clearly. Here alongside Christine Tournier, speech therapist.
Renaud Joubert
Véronique Ehlers came late to speech therapy sessions. “I was 48 years old. I was in burnout, I had developed a social phobia. My stuttering was eating my life, “says the one who often” put a mask in public “, deploying in front of these pupils enormous efforts to reach fluidity. “When I became again, I stuck,” she smiled behind her big glasses. She then crosses the road to Christine Tournier who will accompany her “for a year”. “And there, over the sessions, there was a huge weight less on my shoulders. I started not to feel guilty, ”says the fifties. It is, moreover, “well, the ambition of work sessions”, estimates Christine Tournier. “Make sure to reduce the impact that stuttering in patients’ lives,” abounds the speech therapist who recalls that today “for 80 % of children, the disorder ends up fading”. But in some cases, he persists.
Trauma in childhood?
In Saint-Sornin, this is the story that the mayor delivers, Michael Canit. At 50, the one who is also elected to the department and president of Charente Eaux has always been silent on the subject. “This is the first time that I have been talking about it,” he poses in his modest office populated by press clippings, children’s drawings and other cards in the territory.
According to the parental account, his stuttering would be due to a trauma. At the age of “3 or 4”, we suspect meningitis. “In the hospital, I underwent a lumbar puncture. My parents heard me scream at the other end of the corridor, ”he retraces what could have been a rocking point. “I have no memory of it. Christine Tournier nuances the evocation of these dated events. “There is rarely one cause in stuttering. »»
« Michael Kael »
For the rest, Michaël Canit evokes “benevolent teachers”. A mistress “who made me sing in class so that I could align two words”. There is also the speech therapist, the theater that “I have encouraged me to practice”. Mockery too, a little. Later, in college, in high school, he is “Michael Kael”, reference to Grolanders whom he worships.
In Saint-Michel, Gaylord Parinet, a 33-year-old trader, returns to “a brawler side” he develops at school. No doubt the hazardous expression “of anger, things to prove” of which his stuttering was the soil. Today at the head of the flea market La Caverne du Nécouper, the thirty -something does not make angelism on the subject: “Of course, it was hard,” says the one who chained the speech therapy sessions, with the psychologist and “collective internships”. He who loves the world of the night, “it becomes complicated in the evening when you are in front of someone who does not leave you marble. »»
“I often prefer to close my mouth. »»
Michael Canit recalls the enormous concentration and the millimeter preparation necessary for public speaking. “I have always been afraid of annoying my audience. I often prefer to close my mouth ”. Even in municipal council, even in the hemicycle of the department.
In the online podcast of the association speech Bégaité, Houssedine, young Angoumoisin regrets the invisibilization of people. “I would have liked, younger, to hear on the radio, to see on TV.” Where society only offers to see “only perfect words and without a hitch”. In addition to films on the subject, social networks have also become boxes of resonance. “The idea in all of this is to talk about it in a positive and nuanced way,” analyzes Christine Tournier. Rejecting these simplistic speeches from “I spoke to 500 people and my life has changed”.
And then there is ignorance. “Faced with a person who stammered, the best to do is listen to him,” says the speech therapist. “And no, there is no point in breathing a big blow ‘, nor to stop stress’,” she clarifies.
On his disorder, Michaël canit keeps in mind a significant episode. “I am in 4e at Montbron college. We are in 1989, we celebrate the Bi Centenaire of the Revolution. I have to declaim the oath of the palm game during a performance. Among teachers, some doubt about my capacity. “Les Eyes Rougis, he marks a time:” And then, they finally decided to trust me. The weight of the gaze on their words.
Resources to change the look
“Until the early 1990s, stuttering was discussed in France in a very psychoanalytic way,” explains Christine Tournier, speech therapist. “We systematically started from the emotional state, the mental health of people, which is now quite questioned.” Today, the association speech Bégamenti is campaigning in particular for the enhancement of Bègues people. Podcasts flourish on the subject: “Bègues in” by Louis Lawson, “It will take the time that it takes” by Michel Montreuil (Radio Canada), “Noir and Bègue” by Mike Muya or “I am I am a podcast”.
