CORRECTION OF SPEECH DEFECTS
In addition to the ordinary faults and failings in speech possessed by
many in common, there are the special and specific defects, such as
stammering, stuttering, lisping, and the like. Every defective is to
be pitied, as many professions and occupations are of such a nature as
practically to bar men and women who cannot speak well. There are the
social and ethical handicaps, also, to be considered, as well as that
of economics. The defective speech of a child renders him the butt of
his playmates’ rude and often brutal jokes. The sensitive is thus driven
away from society. He becomes a solitary and not infrequently his life is
ruined.
Speaking of the stutterer, one who is not afflicted by this disease (for
so authorities have determined it to be), cannot realize what a terrible
life he lives. Dr. Scripture, of Columbia University, New York City, who
is one of the greatest authorities on this subject, says: “One boy often
threw himself on the floor, begging his mother to tell him how to die.
Another boy asked for a letter to his father, telling him to keep the
other children from laughing at him. Many stutterers become so sensitive
that they imagine everybody is constantly making fun of them. The life of
a stutterer is usually so full of sorrow that it can hardly be said to be
worth living.”[3]
The speech delinquent is shy, timid, super-sensitive, constantly
harboring the thought that people are laughing at him. He gradually shuns
society, lives unto himself, and in many instances becomes morally
depraved. He contracts a morbid outlook upon life in general, and often
is driven to criminality. This statement is no exaggeration. The Board of
Education in New York City, after thorough investigation, found that “one
school child in four suffers from speech defect,” and that “among boy
criminals, nine in ten suffer from the same malady.”
In the Grand Rapids schools classes for the sole purpose of correcting
speech defects were organized.
The mechanical arrangement was as follows: Twelve classes were arranged
for in five different schools with _a half hour a day_ for each class.
The children were grouped according to age, kind of defect, etc., and a
teacher with special training for the correction of speech was sent from
school to school to give the instruction.
Our plans for this year (1918) are practically the same as for last
excepting that we have more special teachers and will be able to reach
a greater number of schools and give more time to individual cases....
During the school year of 1916-17, we had under instruction 107 children
and obtained the following results:
Normal Almost Normal Improved Total
Stuttering 8 10 18 36
Organic Lisping 12 4 3 19
Negligent Lisping 24 5 29
Neurotic Lisping 3 4 5 12
Nasality 3 3
Miscellaneous 3 1 4
Indistinct 2 1 1 4
--- --- --- ---
55 25 27 107
This year we will have under instruction of our special teachers about
250 children, and in addition to this we hope to work for correction
and prevention of speech-defects in general by giving instruction in
voice culture and corrective phonetics to all of the children of the
primary grades. This work will be done by the grade teachers under the
supervision of the speech department.[4]
THE PROBLEM
A person with a slight impediment in his speech, due probably to some
minor organic disorder, could be much helped by the average teacher, if
the latter would give this subject of speech serious consideration. Of
course there are cases where, from birth, the child’s speech organs have
been impaired, and again, disease or some surgical operation may have
caused interference with their proper functioning. In such cases as these
a speech specialist is needed and often medical aid as well.
We do not presume to suggest with any degree of authority just what to
do and what not to do in such extremities, but rather to present a few
fundamental and tried principles which have proved successful in many
cases. There are two classes whose speech defects are due to some mental
cause—the Stammerers and the Stutterers.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STAMMERER
The stammerer finds it extremely difficult to begin to make any audible
vocal sound. He stares blankly at you with a very slight, if any,
suggestion that he is trying to speak. For the time being he is a mute,
with no power to speak, and yet with every means of speaking. This is a
pitiful condition in which to be.
The next stage finds the stammerer able, after a snapping of his fingers,
or bending of his knees, or lifting up of a foot, or swinging his arms,
or after some similar bodily action, to speak along smoothly with no
suggestion of an impediment for a considerable period of time, after
which he again lapses into silence. The following characteristics are
common to most stammerers:
1. He is inclined to speak too fast when started.
2. He has no control over his breathing.
3. He often endeavors to speak during inhalation instead of
during exhalation.
4. He is extremely sensitive, always fearing that he is making a
mistake.
5. His face usually carries an expression of bitter sorrow and
despair.
6. He is usually intensely grateful to any one for a kind word of
help.
7. He tries with the utmost skill to conceal his defect.
8. He is usually weak physically.
9. He is usually of a nervous temperament.
10. He usually possesses splendid courage and high ideals, which
too often are destroyed because he cannot accomplish them with
this weight of halting speech about his neck.
THE STUTTERER
The stutterer, unlike the stammerer, is able to make an audible sound at
will. His difficulty lies in his inability to say more than one sound
until he has repeated the initial sound from six to fifteen times.
It seems that he must get up a certain amount of speech momentum:
“B-b-b-bring me th-th-th-that b-b-b-book.” Or, “W-w-w-well, I think it is
a v-v-v-very fine day.”
In a large measure the causes of stuttering and stammering are identical.
Stammering is stuttering in the superlative degree. What is true of the
stammerer is also true of the stutterer, with the exception that the
stutterer is less melancholy, and less conscious of his defect.
For both, or either, practice in simple exercises is very necessary, but
before specific training is given, the defective should be interviewed
concerning his health. If a boy or girl is not given sufficient food
and proper food (and such is often the case), there is small chance for
speech improvement. Oftentimes it is found that these speech delinquents
are playing too hard and wasting the nervous energy which should be
utilized in mastering their vocal impediment.
The most successful way of handling these problems is to have the
defectives placed in separate classes according to their particular needs
and ages. Then get a physician’s diagnosis of each individual case. This
diagnosis generally gives the special teacher the knowledge necessary for
intelligent correction. The teacher must be patient, gentle, sympathetic
and yet determined. She herself must possess ease and real enjoyment in
speaking.
_Practice Exercises_
1. Speech defectives must first learn how to relax. They should spend at
least ten minutes daily at home lying flat on their backs concentrating
the mind on separate parts until the whole body is completely relaxed.
This relaxation exercise can and should be carried on daily. At school, a
similar though modified exercise should be attempted.
2. They must master diaphragmatic breathing. This exercise should follow
the relaxation exercise, for the best results are obtained while lying on
the back; the next best while sitting erect.
(a) Inhale slowly, filling lower lobes of lungs first, and then
the upper part of chest. While doing this count ten mentally;
exhale, counting ten mentally. Repeat five times.
(b) Inhale ten counts again, hold breath five counts, exhale ten
counts. Repeat five times.
(c) Inhale slightly, then purse lips to impede the air as it
passes out; now give one short puff with spasmodic contraction of
abdomen. Repeat five times, inhaling slightly before each puff.
(d) Inhale deeply, then give one long puff with continuous
contraction of the abdomen. Repeat five times, inhaling deeply
before each puff.
3. Tone production should follow breathing exercises.
(a) Count orally 1-1-1-1-1 with spasmodic abdominal contraction.
Repeat five times. Be sure that breath is taken in after each
count.
(b) Count orally 1-1-1-1-1 with continuous abdominal contraction.
Repeat five times.
(c) Inhale deeply and count orally 1 to 10, stressing every other
count. Some students cannot do this unless the teacher keeps
time with ruler as a baton, striking some object. Others can
only do this by walking slowly, repeating a count on every other
footfall. Repeat five times.
(d) Select a lyric with marked rhythm and read in concert in
sing-song style. Repeat each stanza five times, giving marked
pulsation to each accented syllable. Tennyson’s “Song of the
Brook” is especially good for this purpose.
(e) Take a simple prose selection and mark it off in thought
groups, and then read slowly and measuredly in concert, giving a
fairly long pause between each group. Hamlet’s “Instructions to
the Players,” and Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” are splendid for
such work.
When the defective has learned to speak fluently memorized work, then
he should be taught confidence in simple conversational exercises. This
work should be, so far as possible, voluntary on the part of the pupil.
Let the class form a circle, each one sitting with a sense of ease and
relaxation and then, as they are inclined, take part in conversing on
some simple, interesting topic. Some will have to be urged to participate
while others find great delight in such work.
In regard to training in enunciation, this work has been found to be
more successful when given late in the development of the defective.
After he has gained confidence in speech ability and cultivated, to some
degree, real enjoyment in voice production, he is better prepared to
consider this more or less purely technical training. In very extreme
cases, however, it will be found necessary to begin speech instruction
with him as you would teach a child. Such students must be taught the
proper control of lips, tongue and jaw, as though they had never learned
speech at all.
Experts who have devoted a lifetime to the study of speech evils and
their remedy find a large variety of causes for them, as well as immense
diversity in manifestation. One may seem to be born with a tendency to
stammering, stuttering or lisping; another can trace the habit to a
fright, to imitation, to some exhaustive disease, to nervous timidity, to
self-consciousness. But whatever the cause, or however the evil manifests
itself, it is a living nightmare, a dreadful, ever-present burden to its
victim. Hence parents and teachers should seriously endeavor to correct
the habit as speedily as it is discovered. For if it be long-continued
it is almost sure to produce shyness, timidity, lack of necessary
self-reliance, even moroseness, sullenness and other consequences of
perpetual unhappiness.
At the outset let it be understood clearly that all harshness,
unkindness, or severity of treatment in word or deed, adds to the evil
and renders it more difficult of eradication. The victim of the habit
is to be sympathized with, and lovingly encouraged. Yet promptness,
firmness and persistency are essential in the production of a cure. The
following suggestions should be put into practice, but seldom or never
in the presence of strangers, or at any time when they would heighten
the sufferer’s embarrassment. They must also be followed with happy
cheerfulness.
1. When a victim of one of these habits begins to stammer or stutter,
stop him immediately, and say pleasantly but firmly and crisply, “Stop!”
Then command: “Take a deep breath! Now hold it! Now think of what you
want to say—each word!” Then allow the stutterer to let out his breath;
then inhale again deeply, and begin his speech. If he fails, see that
he begins again. Practice this as often as you can. Exercises can also
be made up, following the same procedure, that will be of incalculable
benefit, as, for instance, taking a deep breath, then repeating as much
of the alphabet as is possible before breathing again.
2. Cultivate slowness of speech. Insist upon words being spoken slowly,
with great distinctness and clearness of articulation. The moment
stuttering begins, issue the commands: “Stop! Deep breath; think; breathe
out, breathe in; now!” Let the teacher say his words very slowly and
constantly encourage the pupil to do the same.
3. Cultivate the habit of rapid thinking. This can be done by a series
of exercises played as games if necessary. For instance: “The Game
of Names.” The teacher says, “Flower!” The pupil replies, “Rose.” If
the teacher has a list ready he can call out his names as quickly as
possible, such as, Animal, Tree, Water, Bird, Dog, etc., while the pupil
responds, Horse, Oak, River, Sparrow, Bulldog, etc. The interest can be
increased by repeating a generic term, requiring a different species for
answer. Flower, Animal, Tree, Water, etc., can have a score or more of
different answers.
Another exercise in prompt thinking is that of “Association of Ideas.”
The teacher gives out a name—whatever occurs to him—as, for instance,
“Tree.” The pupil immediately responds, “Leaves.” Then the teacher may
add, “Autumn,” and the pupil, “Poetry,” and so on. Or the associations
may all be required from the pupil. The words used as _starters_ should
be carefully chosen, of course, to meet the mental condition of the
pupil; such words as Baby, Doll, Mamma, Bed, House, etc., being good for
children of tender years.
Another excellent exercise is that of “Contrasts or Differences,” where
the teacher says, “Boy,” and the pupil responds, “Girl.” “Black” calls
forth “white,” “heavy” is responded to by “light,” etc.
Equally good is “Finishing Quotations” or “lines”—provided, of course,
the pupil is old enough for such a mental exercise. For instance, the
teacher says, “Everything is not gold,” while the pupil should respond,
“That glitters.” “My country,” would bring out “’Tis of thee,” or “Right
or wrong.”
Anything that quickens the intellect and demands ready response is
of material help, but the teacher must not forget that, in this
mental-promptness exercise, slow and deliberate speech also are essential
on his part and that of the pupil.
4. Whenever it is found that a pupil stammers or stutters over a word
beginning with a consonant, as, for instance, “bread,” require him to
drop out the initial letter and say “read,” or even “ead.” Such words as
pie, Tommy, tub, butter, top, bank, tumble, tell, nut, lap, can be used.
Let him say, “ie,” “ommy,” “ub,” etc. Then when he is sure of this part
of the word, let him, after taking a deep breath, try the full word,
saying it again, but always slowly and distinctly.
5. Teach the pupil to sing his sentences. Begin with some simple
salutation, as, “Where are you going?” and let it be sung to the notes:
[Illustration: Where are you going? I’m go-ing home.]
Then let a response be sung reversing the music, “I’m going home.” “How
do you do?” “Where are your father and your mother?” “How far is it to
the market?” are sentences that can be sung. The teacher should invent
his own music and words, but insist upon slow, deliberate utterances of
tone and word. This is a wonderful help in certain kinds of cases.
6. There are certain simple exercises or calisthenics that materially aid
in strengthening the muscles of the head, neck, throat, jaw, etc. The
teacher can utilize these according to his best judgment. Any book of
calisthenic or physical exercises will suggest those most useful.
7. But above all, in seeking a cure of these distressing evils, use the
psychical or spiritual remedy. Give the pupil confidence that God never
intended him to be cursed by a stammering, stuttering, or lisping tongue.
He is the child of an Infinite and Loving Father. All good is his, if he
will learn how to take it. Urge him to restful, trustful reliance upon
the tender help of the Great Power outside of himself, in conjunction
with the efforts you and he together are making to effect a cure.
To the teacher who needs thorough preparation upon this subject we can
commend heartily Dr. E. W. Scripture’s book “Stuttering and Lisping,”
published by the Macmillan Company, New York.