WHERE DOES STAMMERING LEAD?
In answering the question: "Where Does Stammering Lead?" nothing truer
can be found than the words of a man who has stammered himself:
"What pen can depict the woefulness, the intensified suffering of the
inveterate stammerer, confirmed, stereotyped in a malady seemingly
worse than death? Are the afflictions, mental and physical, of the
pelted, brow-beaten, down-trodden stutterer imaginary? Nonsense! There
is not a word of truth in the idea. His sufferings all the time, day in
and day out, at home and abroad, are real--intense--purgatorial. And
none but those who have drunk the bitter cup to its dregs feel and know
its death, death, double death! These afflicted ones die daily and the
graves to them seem pleasant and delightful. The sufferings of the deaf
and dumb are myths--but a drop in the ocean compared to what I endured!
And who cared for me? Who? I wag the laughing stock, a subject of
scoffing and ridicule, often. I could fill an octavo with the miseries
I endured from early childhood till the elapsement of forty summers."
Thus does the Rev. David F. Newton, himself a stammerer for forty
years, speak of stammering and stuttering and its effects. And Charles
Kingsley, a noted English divine and author who stammered, paints the
stammerer's future in words of experience that no stammerer should ever
forget:
"The stammerer's life is a life of misery, growing with his growth and
deepening as his knowledge of life and his aspirations deepen. One
comfort he has, truly, that his life will not be a long one. Some may
smile at this assertion; let them think for themselves. How many old
people have they ever heard stammer! I have known but two. One is a
very slight ease, the other a very severe one. He, a man of fortune,
dragged on a very painful and pitiful existence--nervous, decrepit,
asthmatic--kept alive by continual nursing. Had he been a laboring man,
he would have died thirty years sooner than he did."
To the man who has never been through the suffering that results from
stammering or who has never been privileged to watch the careers of
stammerers and stutterers over a period of years, these final results
of stammering seem impossible. The inexperienced observer can only ask
in wonder: "How can stammering or stuttering bring a man or woman to
these depths of despair?"
To the stammerer who has but begun to taste the sorrows of a
stammerer's life these effects of stammering appear to be the ultimate
result of an UNUSUAL case--never the inevitable result of his own
trouble.
Doubtless if Charles Kingsley were with us today, he could look back
and tell us of the day when he, too, was sure that stammering was but a
trifle. He, too, could point out the tune when he felt that sometime,
somehow, his stammering would magically depart and leave him free to
talk as others talked. And yet, having gone down the road through a
long life of usefulness, Kingsley's is the voice of a mature experience
which says to every stammerer: "Beware--there are pitfalls ahead!" And
this man is right.
RESULTS OF STAMMERING: Experience proves that the results of continued
stammering or stuttering are definite and positive, and that they are
inevitable. Stammering is known to be at the root of many troubles. It
causes nervousness, self-consciousness and sometimes brings about a
mental condition bordering on complete mental breakdown. It causes
mental sluggishness, dissipates the power-of-concentration, weakens the
power of will, destroys ambition and stands between the sufferer and an
education.
There is no affliction more annoying or embarrassing to its victim than
stammering. No matter how bright the intellect may be, if the tongue is
unable easily and quickly to formulate the words expressing thought,
the individual is held back in business and is debarred from the
pleasures of social and home life.
Stammering is a drawback to children in school. To be unable to recite
means failure. It means humiliation. It means disgrace in the eyes of
the other pupils. And finally, it means valuable time wasted--not in
getting an education--but in suffering untold misery in TRYING to get
one--and failing.
A boy fourteen years of age, who has failed to advance in school, and
who finds stammering a handicap of serious proportions, tells me:
"I am fourteen years old and only in the fifth grade. I am afraid to
recite because of my stuttering, and because of my not reciting when my
teachers call on me, I am getting low marks in school and do not know
if I will ever get through."
One mother writes:
"My little girl will not go to Sunday School because she does not like
the other children to look at her so straight when she stammers."
A boy says:
"I am thirteen years old and in school. I am afraid to recite because
of my stuttering; and because of my not reciting I get low average in
studies."
Another boy told me:
"I am now in the third year of my high school course. On the first day
of the term I went to school, I made such a miserable thing of myself
that I quit. The school superintendent and principal saw me when I came
back the second day as I was carrying my books out. Of course they
stopped me and I made an explanation. I couldn't tell any of the new
teachers my name. It was impossible to make any kind of a recitation. I
was introduced to all of my teachers and have been STUMBLING ALONG ever
since with grades anywhere from 0 to 60."
A SOCIAL DRAWBACK: No stammerer but knows that his malady marks him for
the half-suppressed smiles of thoughtless people and the unkind remarks
of those who really know nothing of the suffering which these unkind
remarks occasion. It is true, but unfortunate, that the stammerer is
not wanted in any social gathering, he can provide no entertainment,
save at his own expense, and of all people he is most ill at ease when
out among others.
A young lady writes:
"Mr. Bogue, I would give one of my eyes to get rid of stammering. That
is all I am after. Please excuse this awful writing. I AM SO NERVOUS I
CAN HARDLY GET THE PEN INTO THE INK BOTTLE."
Here is a letter from one man:
"I am 36 years old, and have stammered for 28 years. I don't stammer so
bad, but just bad enough to spoil my life. I always have to take a back
seat in company. I belong to three lodges, but I do not take part in
any of them because I am afraid they will ask me to take part in the
order. It would make me feel cheap. I have often felt like committing
suicide, but I would pull my nerves together and make the best of it
again. I am now a janitor at a school."
HOPELESS IN BUSINESS: There is not a young man stammerer in this whole
country who would not work night and day to be cured of stammering if
he realized the hopelessness of trying to be a success in a business
way, handicapped by stammering, unable to talk fluently, clearly and
intelligently.
A man says:
"I am 33 years old and single. I have stammered ever since I was a
child. It has made me nervous. At my age it is very embarrassing to me
to stutter. I kept getting more nervous from year to year, and finally
I have had to give up my position. I was a long-hand biller for ten
years, but I am now troubled with writer's cramp and unable to do much.
I can't get a clerk's job because of my stuttering."
And here is another--a man grown, who too late realized the futility of
trying to get an education while yet handicapped by stammering. He
said, a while back:
"I must say my stammering has spoiled my life and robbed me of a
successful career. I would give much if my parents had sent me to be
cured of stammering when a boy, instead of trying as they did to
educate me."
STAMMERER APPEARS ILLITERATE: No matter how great the stammerer's
knowledge may be, he often appears to be illiterate simply because he
is unable to express himself in words. His knowledge is locked up by
his infirmity, the same as though he had a steel band drawn over his
mouth and fastened with a padlock which he is unable to unlock for want
of a proper key. The man with the locked-up knowledge is under as great
a handicap as the man without knowledge.
A man who had a chance to be a big success in business, had he not
stammered, says:
"Stammering is the cause of all my trouble. My earlier associates have
shunned me for several years, and I have sought the worst class of
dives and the lowest kind of companions, where I was reasonably certain
that I would not come in contact with those with whom I had associated
in earlier years. My eyes are wet with tears--tears of remorse and
regret--because I see no chance in life for me now."
The stammerer who thinks that success comes to the man who
stammers--who believes that the business world is willing to put up
with anything less than fluent speech, should read this heart-broken
letter from a young man:
"I am a bookkeeper, and dearly love my work, but am afraid that I am
going to have to give it up because my speech is getting worse, and I
have noticed that the boss has mentioned it to me a couple of times
now, and it almost breaks my heart to know that my position is going to
get away from me. No one realizes how much one suffers, and I'm afraid
I'm going to break down with nervous prostration soon. When one day is
over with me, I wonder how I am going to get through with the next one."
What are the results of stammering? Should anyone ask that question, I
could point to instances in my own experience that would prove that
almost every undesirable condition of human existence may be the result
of stammering. I have seen young men who are business failures,
dejected, hopeless, drifting along, men who in early years were
intellectual giants, and who before their death were mere children in
mental power, because they allowed stammering to destroy every valuable
faculty they possessed.
I could point to children whom stammering had held back almost from the
time they began to talk--give cases of young men depressed,
embarrassed, unsuccessful, because they stammer--cite instances of all
the worth-while things in life turned from the path of a young woman
because she stammered.
Yet in the past, not one of these knew what was coming. Not one
realized where the trail was leading. No stammerer can of himself see
into the future. But he can, at least, look into the future of others,
who, like himself, are stammerers, and avoid the pitfalls into which
they have fallen and save himself the mistakes they have made.
PART III
THE CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING
CHAPTER I
CAN STAMMERING REALLY BE CURED?
It has only been a few years since the impression was abroad that
stammering was incurable. Not a particle of hope was held out to the
afflicted individual that any semblance of a cure was possible by any
method. This erroneous idea that stammering could not be cured grew up
in the mind of the average person as a result of one or all of the
following conditions:
1st--The inability of the stammerer to cure himself and his further
inability to outgrow the trouble, (although he was repeatedly told that
he would outgrow it) was the first reason that led to the foolish and
totally unfounded belief that stammering could not be cured.
2nd--The principles of speech and the un-normal condition known as
stammering have been surrounded with a great deal of mystery in the
years gone by. The idea has been widely prevalent that the affliction
was one sent by Providence as a punishment for some act committed by
the sufferer or his forbears. This and many other ideas bordering upon
superstition, are responsible, too, to a great degree for the belief
that stammering is incurable.
3rd--Even if an attempt to cure stammering was made, this attempt was
based upon the "supposition" that stammering was a physical trouble,
due to some defect in the organs of speech. It followed that since no
one was ever able to discover any physical defect, no one knew the true
cause of the disorder, nor how to treat it successfully.
4th--Unfortunately there have been in the field a number of
irresponsible charlatans, preying upon the stammerer with claims to
cure, while in fact they knew little or nothing of the disorder, had
never stammered themselves, nor had the slightest knowledge of the
correct methods of procedure in the core of stammering. The failure of
such as these to do any good led to a widespread belief that there was
no successful method for the eradication of speech disorders.
From an experience covering more than twenty-eight years, during which
time the author has corresponded with 210,000 persons who stammer and
has personally met and diagnosed about 22,000 cases, it has been proved
that all of these beliefs are fallacies of the worst character. Given
any person who stutters or stammers and who has no organic defect and
is as intelligent as the average child of eight years, it has been
found that the Unit Method of Restoring Speech will eradicate the
trouble at its source and by removing the cause, entirely remove the
defective utterance.
THE STAMMERER'S CASE NOT HOPELESS: Stammerers should fix this fact
firmly in mind: Stammering can be cured! There is hope, positive,
definite hope for every case--this fact is based on every imaginable
form of stuttering or stammering. It is not, in other words, a mere
idle statement based on theory or guess-work, but a mathematical truth,
taken from experience.
I recall very well the case of a man of 32 who came to me for help
after five of the so-called schools for stammerers had failed to afford
him any relief. Quite naturally this man was a confirmed skeptic. He
did not believe that there was any cure for him. Anyone who had been
through the trials that he had experienced would have felt the same
way. But he placed himself under treatment, nevertheless, and in a few
weeks' time, the Unit Method had restored him to perfect speech. He
left entirely convinced that stammering could be cured, because it had
been done in his own case which had so long seemed beyond all hope.
Many years afterward, he wrote a letter which I take the liberty of
reproducing here for the encouragement and inspiration of everyone who
is similarly afflicted and who feels as this man felt--that he is
incurable:
"I tried to be cured of stammering at five different times by five
different men at a total cost of more than one thousand dollars. None
of them cured me. Then I decided to try the Unit Method. Nine years ago
I did so--a decision that I have never regretted. It was evident that
this method was based on a comprehensive knowledge of the art of
speech. I am now a piano salesman and talk by the hour all day long;
talk over the telephone perfectly; and many tell me that I speak more
distinctly than the majority of people who have never stammered. I
believe this is because I was taught through the Unit Method the very
fundamentals of speech."
This man's case is typical of the hundreds of failures-to-cure which
are responsible for the belief that stammering cannot be cured. The
fact that he had made five separate attempts to be cured would, in the
mind of the average man, establish the fact that stammering cannot be
cured and yet it is seen that even in this extreme case, under the
application of the proper scientific methods, the stammerer found
freedom of speech without unusual difficulty and in a comparatively
short time.
CHAPTER II
CASES THAT "CURE THEMSELVES"
Not infrequently from some source will be heard a story, many times
retold, to the effect that "So-and-so" who stammered for many years has
been cured--that the trouble has magically disappeared and that he
stammers no longer.
What is the cause of this? What brings about such a miraculous cure?
The answer depends upon the case. Usually, the story is much more a
story than a fact. Few indeed have been the stammerers who have ever
actually heard the man stammer before "his trouble cured itself" and
then heard him talk perfectly afterwards. Like the stories of haunted
houses, there is nothing to substantiate the truth of the statement,
there is no evidence by which the story may be checked up.
In the rare cases where the facts would seem to indicate the truth of
the statement, it will be found that the person in question never
really stammered--that his trouble was something else--lalling,
lisping, or some defect of speech that was mistaken for stammering or
stuttering.
Another case of apparent miraculous cure is the case of the stammerer
who, finding himself unable to say words beginning with certain
letters, begins the practice of substituting easy sounds for those that
are difficult and thus, provided he has only a slight case, leads many
to believe that he talks almost perfectly. This fellow is known as the
"Synonym Stammerer" and is usually a quick thinker and a ready
"substituter-of-words." If he has stammered noticeably for some time
until those in his vicinity have become acquainted with his affliction,
and then discovers the plan of substituting easy sounds for hard ones,
he may for a time conceal his impediment and lead certain of his
friends to believe that he no longer stammers.
This "Synonym Stammerer" is storing up endless trouble for himself,
however, for the mental strain of trying to remember and speak synonyms
of hard words entails such a great drain upon his mind as to make it
almost impossible to maintain the practice for any great length of
tune. In this connection, let every stammerer be warned to avoid this
practice of substitution of words. It is a seeming way out of
difficulty sometimes, but you will find that you are only making your
malady worse and laying up difficulties for yourself in the future.
CHAPTER III
CASES THAT CANNOT BE CURED
In an experience in meeting stammerers and in curing stammering it is
only natural to assume that I have come across certain cases which
could not be cured. It is only natural, too, to expect that in such a
wide experience it would be possible to determine what cases are
incurable and why.
Cases of incurable speech impediments may be divided into seven classes:
(1)--Those with organic defects;
(2)--Those with diseased condition of the brain;
(3)--Those who have postponed treatment until their malady
has progressed so far into the chronic stage as to make
treatment valueless;
(4)--Those who refuse to obey instructions;
(5)--Those who persist in dissipation, regardless of effects;
(6)--Those of below normal intelligence;
(7)--Those who will not make the effort to be cured.
Stutterers and stammerers whose trouble arises from an organic defect
are so few as to be almost an exception, but where those cases exist,
they must be regarded as incurable. The re-educational process used in
the successful method of curing stuttering and stammering will not
replace a defective organ of the body with a new one. It will not cure
harelip or cleft palate, nor will it loosen the tongue of the child who
has been hopelessly tongue-tied from birth.
A boy was brought to me some years ago by his parents in the hope that
his speech trouble might be eradicated, but it was found upon
examination that he had always been tongue-tied and that the deformity
would not permit of the normal, natural movements of the tongue
necessary to proper speaking. I immediately told the parents the
unfortunate condition of their son and frankly stated that in his
condition there was no possibility of my being able to help him.
DISEASED BRAIN: Taking up the second class--those who have a diseased
condition of the brain--these cases, too, are very rare. I have met but
a comparatively few. Where a lesion of the brain has occurred, and a
distinct change has thus been brought about in the physical structure
of that organ, an attempt to bring about a cure would be a waste of
time--hopeless from the start.
THE PROCRASTINATORS: The third type of incurable cases is that of the
stammerer or stutterer who, against all advice and experience, has
persisted in the belief that his trouble would be outgrown and who has
by this means allowed the disorder to progress so far into the chronic
stage as to make treatment entirely without effect.
This type of incurable is very numerous. They usually start in
childhood with a case of simple stuttering which, if treated then,
could be eradicated quickly and easily. From this stage they usually
pass into the trouble of a compound nature, known as combined
stammering and stuttering. Here, also, their malady would yield readily
to proper methods of treatment, but instead of giving it the attention
so badly needed, they allow it to pass into a severe case of Spasmodic
Stammering, and from this into the most chronic stage of that trouble.
The malady becomes rooted in the muscular system. The nervous strain
and continued fear tear down all semblance of mental control and in
time the sufferer is in a condition that is hopeless indeed, a
condition where he is subject for the pity and the sympathy of every
one who stammers, and yet a condition brought on purely by his own
neglect and wilfulness.
I recall the case of a father who brought his boy of 16 to see me some
years ago. At that time, the boy represented one of the worst cases of
stammering I ever saw. He could scarcely speak at all. He made awful
contortions of the face and body when attempting to speak. When he
succeeded in uttering sounds, these resembled the deep bark of a dog.
These sounds were totally unintelligible, save upon rare occasions,
when he would be able to speak clearly enough to make himself
understood. I gave the boy the most searching personal diagnosis and
very carefully inspected his condition both mental and physical, after
which I was convinced that he could be cured, with time and persistent
work. The father was given the result of my findings and told of the
boy's condition. He decided to take the boy home, talk the matter over
and place him under my care the next week. Ten days later he wrote me
saying that the boy had secured a job in a garage at $6 a week and
could not think about being cured of stammering at that time.
Two and a half years later--the boy was nearing twenty--I saw him
again, and even after all my experience in meeting stammerers, could
hardly believe that stammering could bring about such a terrible
condition as this boy was in at that time. His mental faculties were
entirely shattered. His concentration was gone. This poor boy was
merely a blubbering, stumbling idiot, a sight to move the stoutest
heart, a living example of the result of carelessness and parental
neglect. Needless to say, I would not consider his treatment in such a
condition. There was no longer any foundation to build on--no longer
the slightest chance for benefiting the boy in the least.
THE WILFULLY DISOBEDIENT CASES: Taking up the fourth class of
incurables, those who refuse to obey instructions--I can only say that
such as these are not deserving of a cure. They are not sincere, they
are not willing to hold themselves to the simplest program no matter
how great might be the resultant good. They spend their own money or
the money of their parents foolishly, get no results and disgust the
instructor who spends his or her efforts in trying to bring about a
cure, against obstacles that no one can overcome, viz.: unwillingness
to do as told. The old saying that "You can lead a horse to water, but
you can't make him drink" applies most forcefully to the case of the
wilfully disobedient stammerer. You can instruct this individual in the
methods to bring about a cure, but you can't make him follow them.
I well remember one case in point. A young man of 20 years came to me
apparently with every desire in the world to be cured of stammering.
The first day he followed instructions with great care, seemed to take
a wonderful interest in his work and at the end of the day expressed to
me his pleasure in finding himself improved even with one day's work.
By the third day, the novelty had worn off and his "smart-aleck"
tendencies began to come to the surface. He was impertinent. He was
impudent. He was rude. He failed to come to his work promptly in the
morning, was late at meals, stayed out at night beyond the time limit
set by the dormitory rules and persisted in doing everything in an
irregular and wilfully disobedient manner.
I was not inclined to dismiss him because of his misconduct, because it
was evident that here was a boy of more than ordinary native
intelligence, a fine-looking chap with untold opportunities ahead of
him, if he were cured of stammering. So I put up with his misdeeds for
many days, until one morning I decided that either he must come to time
or return to his home--and he elected to take the latter course.
In looking up this boy's record later on, it was found that he was
incorrigible, that his parents had never been successful in controlling
him at any time and that he had been expelled from school twice.
There is no need for me to say that this boy was afflicted with
something even worse than stammering--something that science was not
able to help--i. e., a lack of sense. His case was incurable, just as
much so as if an inch of his tongue had been sheared off. With such
stammerers as this I have neither patience nor sympathy. They have no
respect or consideration for others and are consequently entitled to
none themselves.
THE CHRONIC DISSIPATOR: The fifth type of incurable might be called the
"chronic dissipator" and his stammering is hopelessly incurable just as
far as his habits are incurable. The person who persists in undermining
his mental and physical being with dissipation and who, when he knows
the results of his doings, will not cease, cannot hope to be cured of
stammering. Cases such as these I do not attempt to treat. They are
neither wanted nor accepted.
I recall the case of a man of 32, a big, stalwart fellow, who came to
me about two years ago with a very severe case of combined stammering
and stuttering. He made his plans to place himself under my care but
before getting back, fell a victim to his inordinate appetite for drink
and was laid up for a week. His wife wrote me the circumstances, told
me it had been going on for nine years and that all efforts to
eradicate the appetite had failed. I immediately advised her that I
considered his case incurable and could not accept him for treatment.
In such cases, a cure is built upon too shallow and uncertain a
foundation to offer any hope of being permanent.
BELOW NORMAL INTELLIGENCE: There is another incurable case which must
be included if we are to complete this list of the incurable forms of
speech impediments. That is the case of the stammerer who is of below
normal intelligence. These cases are very rare and I do not recall but
four instances where a case has been diagnosed as incurable on account
of the lack of intelligence. This is a direct refutation of the
statement that stammerers are naturally below normal in mental ability.
Out of more than twenty-six years' experience in meeting stammerers by
the thousands, I can say most emphatically that stammerers as a class
ARE NOT NATURALLY BELOW NORMAL INTELLIGENCE OR MENTAL POWER, SAVE AS
THEIR TROUBLE MAY HAVE AFFECTED THEIR CONCENTRATION OR WILL-POWER.
THE LACKADAISICAL: The last and largest class of incurable cases of
stammering are those who will not make the effort to be cured. These
are the spineless, the unsure, the cowards, who are afraid to try
anything for fear it will not be successful.
They are usually afflicted with a malady worse than stammering or
stuttering--"indecision"--a malady for which science has found no
remedy. Knowing the dire results of continued stammering, still they
stammer. Reason fails to move them to the necessary effort. Common
sense makes no appeal. Well, indeed, in such cases, may we paraphrase
the words of Dr. Russell H. Conwell and say:
"There is nothing in the world that can prevent you from being cured of
stammering but YOURSELF. Neither heredity, environment or any of the
obstacles superimposed by man can keep you from marching straight
through to a cure if you are guided by a firm, driving determination
and have health and normal intelligence."
These seven classes of incurable cases complete the list. And the
number of such cases, all taken together, is so small as to be almost
out of consideration. For, out of a thousand cases of stuttering and
stammering examined, I find but 2 per cent. with organic defects or of
an incurable nature. In other words, 98 per cent. can be completely and
permanently cured.
CHAPTER IV
CAN STAMMERING BE CURED BY MAIL?
In the years past there have been attempts from time to time to induce
the stammerer to seek a cure for his impediment in mail order
treatments. As has already been told, I was the victim of one of these
so-called "correspondence-cures" and know something about them from
personal experience.
In the first place, the sufferer usually takes up with the mail order
specialist because this man retails his "profound" knowledge at a low
rate, a rate so low that even a single thought on the subject would
convince anyone that his money was buying a few sheets of paper but no
professional knowledge or experience.
The very best correspondence course I have ever known anything about
was not as good as a number of books on elocution that are available in
any good library. Usually these courses are written by some charlatan
who is in business as a mail-order-man selling trinkets and stammering
cures or running a general correspondence school, teaching not only how
to cure stammering by correspondence but giving courses in
"Hair-Waving" and "How to Become a Detective." It is needless for me to
say that such as these are in the business, not for the good of the
stammerer nor even for the purpose of helping him, but simply for the
money that can be extracted from the stammerer or stutterer.
THE DIFFERENCE: There are two main differences, however, between the
books which the stammerer may read without cost and the correspondence
course for which he pays out his good money--many dollars of it. The
correspondence course has been written by a man who knew little or
nothing of the subject, and who put out a course for stammerers only
because he knew something of the number of stammerers in his territory
and said to himself, "My, but I ought to be able to sell them a
mail-order cure." Forthwith he sits down and writes a course--it isn't
necessary to have anything in it at all. Often these men do not even
take the trouble to consult reliable books on the subject. They do not
profess to know anything about stammering or stuttering, their cause or
their cure. They simply sit down and write--and when they have it
written, they send it to the printer, have it printed and then split
these printed sheets up into ten, or twenty, or fifty, or a hundred
lessons--whatever their fancy may dictate, and begin to sell them. They
have no thought of the results--results to them mean nothing save the
number of courses that can be sold--and whether or not a single iota of
good accrues to the stammerer from this expenditure of money is one of
the things in which the correspondence school stammering specialist is
not at all interested.
The most that can be expected from the very best mail course for the
cure of stammering is that the subscriber will receive information
worth as much as that which might be in a library book. He receives
this in installments and for privilege of reading it piece-meal, pays
from $50 to $100.
It is hopeless to try to cure stammering or stuttering by any method
unless the instructor knows his business. And this knowledge comes not
by chance but by long, hard study.
MAIL CURES A FAILURE: No stammerer should attempt to be cured by any
correspondence method. When the decision has been made to have a speech
defect removed, the sufferer should place himself under the care of a
reputable institution, the past record of which entitles it to
consideration. Correspondence cures are a waste of money, a waste of
time and finally leave the stammerer with the firm-founded belief that
his trouble is absolutely incurable, when, as a matter of fact, he may
have a comparatively simple form of stuttering or stammering which
could be quickly eradicated by the proper institutional treatment.
At no time should the stammerer resort to the use of any mechanical
contrivance to aid him in speaking correctly. The cause of the trouble
as previously explained, is inco-ordination. Mechanical contrivances to
hold the tongue in a certain position, elevate the palate or for any
other purpose may be positively harmful and should be strictly
avoided--ALWAYS.
CHAPTER V
THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERT DIAGNOSIS
A diagnosis is an examination or analysis to determine the identity of
a disease and to reveal its cause and characteristics. A reputable
medical man will not undertake the treatment of any malady without
having first made a searching examination and a thorough diagnosis of
the trouble.
In the case of the stammerer or stutterer, expert diagnosis is very
important and should be undertaken only by a diagnostician who has had
previous training and experience of sufficient duration to enable him
to be classed as an expert on the subject. No stammerer or stutterer,
however, should overlook the value of such diagnosis, for the reason
that there are so many forms of speech disorders that it is totally
impossible as well as unsafe for the sufferer himself to try to
determine the exact nature of his trouble.
I recall the case of a certain young man who had depended upon his own
knowledge to determine the identity of his speech defect and the nature
of his trouble. When a boy, he had swallowed a small program pencil
with a metal tip, injuring his vocal cords, so he said, and causing him
to become a stammerer. An examination of his condition and a careful
diagnosis of his case revealed the fact that his vocal organs were as
normal as those of any person who had never stammered. The diagnosis
also revealed the fact that his stammering was not originally caused by
any organic defect or any injury to the vocal organs, but that, on the
other hand, he had, in the first place, inherited a predisposition to
stammer, his father and his grandfather both having been stammerers
whose trouble had never been remedied. The diagnosis showed that the
onset of the trouble immediately after swallowing the pencil was due
chiefly to the nervous shock and fright caused by the accident, which,
in conjunction, with the inherited predisposition toward stammering,
was too much for the boy's mental control and he immediately developed
into a stammerer. The young man had believed for many years that his
defective utterance was totally incurable, that it was due to an
organic defect which could not be remedied. The diagnosis quickly
revealed, however, that a very different condition was responsible for
his trouble and as a consequence, he found himself able to be cured
where, without expert diagnosis, he had resigned himself to a life as a
stammerer.
Another case which also shows the stammerer's inability to diagnose his
own trouble accurately was that of a woman who persistently refused to
allow her son to have his case diagnosed, because of her belief that he
was incurable and that the diagnosis would be a waste of time and money.
After months of coaxing, however, he succeeded in getting her to
consent and I gave him a thorough diagnosis and report on his
condition. This mother had been unduly alarmed--the boy was still in a
curable stage and in fact completed the necessary work in much less
than the usual time. This is but another case that shows the loss which
comes from not knowing the truth.
Written Report of Diagnosis Valuable: It is well to get a personal
diagnosis of the case where possible, but if this cannot be done, a
written history of the case, together with a statement of the symptoms
and present condition, should enable the expert diagnostician of speech
defects to make a thorough and reliable diagnosis of the trouble.
This diagnosis, to be of the most value to the stammerer or stutterer,
should be made up in the form of a written report, so that the
information may be in permanent form and so that the sufferer can study
his own case in all its angles.
WHAT DIAGNOSIS SHOULD SHOW: First of all, of course, the diagnosis
should identify and label your trouble. It should tell what form of
speech defect is revealed by the symptoms; it should tell the cause of
the trouble; the stage it is now in; should indicate whether or not
there is any organic defect; should give information as to the
possibilities of outgrowing the trouble; and, most important of all,
should state whether or not the disorder is in a curable stage.
When it is remembered that nearly a dozen more or less common speech
disorders can be named, almost in one breath, and that some of these
disorders may pass through four or five successive stages, it will be
seen that an expert diagnosis and report is almost a necessity to the
stammerer or stutterer who would have reliable and authoritative
information about his speech disorder.
The stammerer or stutterer who voluntarily remains in the dark, who is
satisfied with gross ignorance of his trouble, is surely not on the
road to freedom of speech.
The most able man cannot decide correctly without the facts. To decide
in the absence of information is guesswork--and guesswork is a poor
method of deciding what to do--in the case of the stammerer as in every
other case.
Therefore, it behooves the stammerer to become enlightened to as great
an extent as possible, to banish ignorance of his trouble and replace
it with facts and sound knowledge.
CHAPTER VI
THE SECRET OF CURING STUTTERING AND STAMMERING
If the reader has followed this work carefully up to this point, he is
now informed on the causes of stuttering and stammering, on their
characteristic tendencies and their peculiarities. We are now ready to
ask, "What are the correct methods for the cure of stuttering and
stammering?" and to answer that question authoritatively.
As to the successful mode of procedure in determining the proper
methods for the cure of stuttering and stammering, I know of no
suggestion better than that offered by Alexander Melville Bell, who
says:
"The rational, as it is experimentally the successful method of
procedure, is first to study the standard of correct articulation (NOT
the varieties of imperfect utterance) and then not to go from one
extreme to another, but at every step to compare the defective with the
perfect mode of speech and so infallibly to ascertain the amount, the
kind and the source of the error."
We have already done that: We have located the cause of the trouble. We
not only know that stammering is caused by a lack of co-ordination
between the brain and the muscles of speech, but we know the things
which may bring about the lack of co-ordination. Now, how to cure?
Simply remove the cause. Re-establish normal co-ordination between the
brain and the muscles of speech. Restore normal brain control over the
speech organs. Make these organs respond freely, naturally and promptly
to the brain messages.
That sounds simple. But if it is as simple as it sounds, why is it that
so many in the past have failed to cure stammering and stuttering? Why
have so many so-called methods of cure passed into the discard? The
answer is, they were based on the wrong foundation. They struck at the
effects and not at the cause of the trouble. And as a result, the
methods failed.
These so-called methods have aimed at many different effects. One
method, for instance, had as its theory that if you could cure the
nervousness, the stammering would magically disappear. The unfortunate
sufferer was doped with vile-tasting bitters and nerve medicines,
so-called, in the hope that his nervous system would respond to
treatment. But the nerves could not be quieted and the nervous system
built up until the cause of the nervousness--which was stammering--was
removed.
There was a time, too, and it has not been so long ago, when the craze
was on for using surgery as a cure-all for stammering. Terrible
butchery was performed in the name of surgery--the patient's tongue
sometimes being slitted or notched, and other foolish and cruel
subterfuges improvised in an effort to cure the stammering. Needless to
say, there was no cure found in such methods. There is no chance of
curing a mental defect by slitting the tongue and the absurdities of
that "butchering period" which have now passed away, are numbered among
the mistakes of those who committed them.
A lack of thoroughness marked the later attempts to cure stammering.
One method was based, for instance, solely upon correct breathing.
There is no doubt that correct breathing is very vital both to the
stammerer and the non-stammerer, if they are to speak fluently and
well. But breath-control does not even begin to solve the problem of
curing stammering. It is but an element, and a small element, in the
proper articulation of words. And however well this plan of
breath-control might have succeeded, it could never have succeeded in
really curing stuttering and stammering.
Most of these ill-advised efforts and half-baked methods sprang up, not
as a result of sound knowledge but rather as a result of the lack of
it. In fact, looking back at the manner in which the stammerer was
treated for stammering under these methods, we can see now that nothing
but the most profound ignorance of the fundamental principles
underlying the art of speaking could have made it possible for these
misguided instructors to pass out as science the jargon and hodge-podge
which they did try to pass off as scientific knowledge. The absurdities
propounded in the name of stammering cures were too numerous even to
enumerate in this volume.
SPEECH PRINCIPLES FUNDAMENTAL: Back of every spoken word, whether that
word be French, English, Italian, or any other language, are the
unchangeable principles of speech. These principles of speech are
fundamental. They do not change basically nor do they vary in the
individual. When you speak correctly, you do so as a result of
following the correct principles of speech. I speak correctly by the
same method as you. And when you speak incorrectly, or when you stutter
or stammer, you do so because you have violated one or more of these
fundamental principles. Any other person who stammers or stutters as
you do, violates the same principles and requires the same method of
correction as yourself. The severity of your case depends upon how many
of the principles of speech you violate. A diagnosis will determine
this--and therefore what is necessary to be done to bring about perfect
speech. The number of speech violations to be corrected will also
determine to a certain extent the time required for correction.
SPEECH DEFINED: Speech, in all the diversities of tongues and dialects,
consists of but a small number of articulated elementary sounds. These
are produced by the agency of the lungs, the larynx, and the mouth. The
lungs supply air to the larynx, which modifies the stream into whisper
or voice; and this air is then moulded by the plastic oral organs into
syllables which singly or in accentual combinations constitute words.
As explained in the Chapter on Causes, all of the physical organs which
have to do with the production of speech and all of the brain centers
whose duty it is to control the actions of these various organs, must
operate in harmony, or, in other words, must coordinate, if we are to
have perfect speech. Co-ordination implies perfect mental control of
physical actions. And this in turn means perfect obedience of the
physical organs of speech to the brain messages that are received.
The cure of stammering and stuttering requires a great deal of care
based, of course, upon the correct scientific knowledge in the first
place.
In attempting to cure stammering, there has been too much teaching by
rigid rules and not enough teaching by principles. There are very few
hard-and-fast rules that can be followed with success by every
stutterer or stammerer. No set of rules can be laid down as a standard
for every one to follow, for no two persons stammer exactly alike any
more than two persons look exactly alike.
The only safe rule of all the rules is that which says, "Cleave closely
to the principles, let the rules fall where they may." The only
successful method is that which, being first based upon the right
principle, is followed out with intelligence by the stammerer and
administered with wisdom by the instructor to fit the needs and
requirements of the individual case.
METHODS NECESSARILY THREE-FOLD: The cure of stammering and stuttering
can be wrought only by a method that is three-fold-that attacks all of
the un-normal conditions of the stammerer simultaneously and eradicates
them in unison.
It would be of little avail, for instance, to build up perfect breath
control, and leave the stammerer in a mental state where he was
continually harassed by a fear of failure, by a continual
self-consciousness and irritated by a deep-seated nervousness.
And it would be of just as little use to try to remove that
self-consciousness, fear of failure and nervousness without removing
the cause of the stammering.
In other words, when the successful method of curing stammering is
spoken of as being threefold in purpose, it is meant that this method
must build up the physical being, must achieve perfect mental
equilibrium and must link up the physical with the mental in perfect
harmony.
A permanent cure can rest on no other foundation than perfect
restoration to a truly normal mental and physical condition. When this
has been accomplished and when the synchronization of brain and speech
organs has been brought about, the muscles of speech do not hesitate in
responding to a brain message for the utterance of a word. There is no
longer any sticking, any loose or hurried repetition. In other words,
perfect speech now comes as a logical consequence.
SPEECH SPECIALIST SHOULD HAVE STAMMERED: It is very important that the
speech expert who would promulgate a method for the eradication of
stammering should have, at one time or another, stammered himself.
It is a well-known fact that the imagination cannot conjure up an image
of something that has never been experienced. If you had been born
blind, you would have no mental picture of any color, no matter how
much you might have heard about it. Still your imagination might be a
most prolific one. The utmost feat of the human imagination is to
combine mental pictures to form still other images which are impossible
or absurd or which in their entirety have not been experienced. In
other words, new combinations of images are possible, but an entirely
new or basic picture is beyond the power of the imagination to create.
So, with the specialist who would cure stuttering and stammering. It is
impossible for the man who has never stammered or stuttered to know the
fear that grips the sufferer when he thinks of speaking. It is
impossible for one who has never stammered to imagine what this fear is
like or to know the feeling that accompanies it.
For that reason, it is important that the man who attempts to eradicate
speech defects should have been afflicted himself in order that his
experience may have been acquired first-hand--that the suffering may
have been felt and all of the conditions and situations of the
stammerer may be as familiar to him as to his student.
Value of Moral Influence in the Cure of Stammering: In speaking of the
necessity for good health, both physical and mental, before the
eradication of stammering can take place, we must not overlook a few
words about one particular type of derelict--the will-less or sometimes
wilful individual who persists in indulging in dissipation of every
kind, the individual who, with cocksure attitude and haughty sneer,
laughs in the face of experience and insists that "it will not bother
him." To such as these, no hope can be held out. Such tactics leave
both body and mind in a condition that does not permit of up-building.
There is little foundation for any effort and with the passing of each
day, there is a tearing-out of bodily and mental vigor that makes all
effort useless.
But in the average individual, physical rebuilding is a process of but
a few weeks. The mental rehabilitation can usually be accomplished in
an equally short period of time and when these things have been brought
about, perfect speech soon follows if the correct methods are applied.
CHAPTER VII
THE BOGUE UNIT METHOD DESCRIBED
At the time a stammerer or stutterer first places himself under my care
and before any attempt is made to apply the treatment, he is given a
very thorough and searching examination for the purpose of learning the
exact nature of his difficulty. It must be remembered that no two cases
of stammering or stuttering are exactly alike and that no two cases
require exactly the same method of treatment, although the same basic
principles apply to all.
Even if the stammerer's case has been previously diagnosed by me, it is
necessary to compare and verify the symptoms as previously exhibited
with those existing at the time of his beginning treatment, in order to
learn, first of all, whether his malady has more recently progressed
into a further and more serious stage.
The Bogue Test: If the usual entrance examination does not bring out
all of the essential facts regarding the case, the stammerer is then
put through the Bogue Test--an original system of diagnosis which I
perfected some years ago--by means of which the peculiarities of the
trouble are brought out, the NORMAL, the SUBNORMAL and the ABNORMAL
condition of the disorder is gauged and the most minute details of the
trouble are disclosed. This Bogue Test covers the case from every
possible angle. It lays bare the exact physical, mental and nervous
condition of the stammerer or stutterer, enables me to determine the
original cause of the trouble and to follow its progress from the first
up to the present time, almost as easily as if the student had been
under my observation ever since he first noticed his defect of speech.
I recall the case of a boy who came to me at one time for a personal
diagnosis of his case. I examined him carefully, put him through a
number of tests and diagnosed his case, which proved to be in the
second stage and of no more than ordinary severity. He was unable to
place himself under my care at that tune but returned to me about eight
months later, apparently in no worse condition than before. Not being
satisfied with the results of the examination, the complete test was
applied, with the result that a condition of grave seriousness was
discovered, marking the most pronounced form of his trouble--a form so
far advanced as to make the case almost incurable. The situation was
explained to the young man and he was told that it would take much
longer than usual to bring about a cure in his case, although such a
cure was yet possible. He expressed his willingness to spend as much
time as was necessary in the cure and as a result, he was able within
some weeks' time to talk without stuttering or stammering. The mental
sluggishness which marked his conversation soon disappeared. He became
alert and eager and when he left for home, he was a much different boy
than when he came for treatment.
This is but one of hundreds of examples showing the need for expert
diagnosis and for careful analysis of the condition of the stammerer
even if a previous diagnosis has been made within a few months.
In practically all cases of stammering, particularly those of a
progressive character, the condition is naturally changeable and common
prudence calls for caution in accepting antedated facts as an
indication of the present condition.
In every case, the examination enables me to gauge the severity of the
case so accurately that the student's course can be outlined,
designating the exact Plan-of-Attack to be used in:
1--Tearing out the improper methods of speech production
2--Replacing those incorrect methods with the correct natural
methods
3--Re-establishing normal co-ordination between the brain and
the muscles of speech.
The Method at Work: When the preliminary Examination and Tests have
been completed and the student's course outlined, the actual working of
the Bogue Unit Method then begins. This does not involve the practice
of any "ism" or "ology," nor does it require the use of medicines,
drugs, surgery, hypnotism or the "laying-on-of-hands," but by
scientific and natural methods, begins the first step of the work,
viz.: Tearing out the improper methods of speech production.
At every step in the application of the method, the principles which
underlie and govern perfect articulation, serve as the foundation of
the instruction. As has been so often stated in this book, these
principles of speech never change. They apply to all persons alike, and
all who talk normally apply these principles in the same manner. Those
who stammer violate them, so that in correcting defective speech it is
only logical that we should first remove the defective procedure and
then institute the correct procedure in its place.
The Bogue Unit Method is three-fold in action. From this it takes the
name "Unit Method." The first Unit of Treatment has for its purpose the
building up of physical efficiency. "The first requisite is to be a
good animal," says Herbert Spencer. This is certainly true of the
stammerer, for in his case, normal health is a valuable aid during the
time of treatment. Consequently, the first step is to build up the
physical organs and be sure that these are functioning properly.
The second Unit of Treatment restores the mental equilibrium,
stabilizes the mental activities and places them under perfect control.
The inability of the mind to control the organs of speech has led to a
condition which might be described as a "flabbiness of the mental
muscles" which necessitates that the mental condition be altered and
improved so that the mind can once more possess the capacity for
properly controlling the organs of speech.
The third Unit of Treatment synchronizes and harmonizes mental and
physical actions and re-establishes normal co-ordination between the
brain and the muscles of speech, which completes the work necessary to
bring about a cure. After both physical and mental conditions have been
made normal, it merely remains to link up these two properly-working
forces, co-ordinate their activities and firmly inhabitate the correct
principles of control, after which it can be said that a complete cure
is permanently effected.
Daily Record of Progress: Beginning with the first day, a complete
report in writing is made of the progress. Each point on which the
student makes progress is noted. If proper advancement is not made on
any particular point, special effort is put forth to bring that point
up to the standard which has been set. This makes it possible for the
instructor to give individual attention to each student, something
which is absolutely essential in many cases. In other words, it will
not do to start the student off and let him work out his own salvation.
The instructor must be constantly at hand, giving advice, correcting
faulty articulation and constantly aiding the stammerer in a hundred
ways to route the malady.
After having been under treatment for seven days, the student is
subjected to his first treatment test. After passing this examination
satisfactorily, the student is assigned additional work from another
angle. Some students require as much as ten days to complete the work
necessary to pass this first test--in fact, it might also be said that
this test will determine the speed with which the student is to
progress. From this time until the completion of the course, additional
tests are given at various intervals, according to the needs of the
case, until the Final Cure Test proves that the malady has been
eradicated.
Conscious of the Improvement: The stammerer is profoundly conscious of
a distinct change for the better by the end of the very first day under
treatment. In other words, there is an immediate and noticeable
improvement, not only in his nervous condition, but also in his
physical and mental state as well.
Before the student passes from under the treatment, he is thoroughly
aware of the benefits which the work has brought about. For, after he
has met every progress test and has been examined on every phase and
every principle of speech, he passes to a rigid Final Test. In this
test, more than ever before, he finds the results of his efforts. He
discovers that he can use his speech in any way that he desires--in any
way that it will be necessary for him to use it in his future life. He
finds himself able to produce any sound--labial, dental, lingual, nasal
or palatal or any combination of these sounds in any language. He finds
every word now is an easy word, articulation is under perfect control
and the formation of voice a process involving no apparent mental
effort or physical contortions.
A young woman of 20 years was placed under my care by her mother. She
stammered very badly and at the time when her condition was at its
worst, found it almost impossible to make herself understood by any
means. After five weeks of careful instruction, this young woman had no
difficulty whatever in speaking, there was no "piling up of thoughts,"
as she expressed her former condition, and her articulation was
excellent. A few days after she returned home, she wrote as follows: "I
have been talking ever since I came home and have had no trouble
whatever. I just love to talk and I believe I have said more in the
last five days than in the whole last five years."
Additional Results: The Bogue Unit Method of Cure when earnestly
followed out by the student, does much more than eradicate the
impediment of speech. It increases the weight of the below-the-average
student, stops all spasmodic or convulsive efforts of face, arms and
limbs and increases by several inches what was formerly a flat and
poorly developed chest.
A very bad case who came to me for treatment several years ago was a
young man of 26. He not only stuttered but stammered very badly. He
placed himself under my guidance for a period of a little more than six
weeks. At the end of that time he found no difficulty in talking nor
were there any spasmodic movements of the facial muscles, as before. In
reporting some time later, he said:
"When I left I tipped the scales at 20 pounds heavier than when I went
to you. My folks are certainly pleased to hear me talk without the
straining and strangling exertion I had before in trying to force my
words out. Now they flow out nice and easy."
Many children, both boys and girls, are under developed. This may have
resulted from several causes, but it is frequently traceable to the
stammering or stuttering as an indirect cause. The Bogue Unit Method
takes these children in a poor physical condition and while eradicating
the defect of speech, brings about a healthy physical development. An
Ohio woman reported excellent results in a letter which said:
"I am glad to inform you that my son Allan since taking the treatment
in June last, has not to my knowledge, stammered once, for which we are
all very grateful to the Bogue Method. I also wish to say that his
physical condition is much improved and he has increased in weight
about ten pounds."
Regardless of the age of the student, there is an increased vitality
flowing through the entire body, the powers of endurance are greatly
increased and the health built up from every stand-point. One man sent
in an enthusiastic report in these words:
"I am fine and healthy; the people down here say I don't look like the
same person. I gained 17 pounds while I was out there. I am talking
fine. My mother says I talk them nearly to death. I talk them all to
bed at night, so they put out the light on me so I will go to bed and
hush. I went down town Saturday night and the boys were sure glad to
hear me talk without stammering."
Even THIS physical improvement is not unusual.
Another man reports the change brought about in his condition as
follows:
"Just about two years ago I was one of the worst stammerers I know that
ever was; it was simply awful. I could not speak a word without the
most terrible stammering you ever heard. My parents were heartbroken
over my condition, which grew worse all the time. I did not grow and
develop like my brothers. My shoulders were stooped, my chest
sunken--in fact, I was in a terrible condition. After staying with you
for six weeks I came home and every one who knew me when I left was
simply astonished at the improvement, not in my speech alone, but in my
physical condition also. Am stronger and well now and I say it is a
comfort to be able to talk like other boys."
This case is not an unusual one, however, for it is frequently found
that the stammering child grows into a physically deficient man as a
result of his speech impediment.
Concomitant with these physical betterments comes a changed mental
attitude, whereby the former pessimistic outlook has been changed to an
optimistic view of life. The former abnormal timidity of the student
has been replaced by a perfect confidence; the old unreasoning
fear-of-failure is transformed into a feeling of supreme self-reliance;
and the depressed, care-worn expression which may once have marked the
stammerer's countenance has given place to that of cheerfulness.
The weak and vacillating will now manifests itself as a dominant,
masterful power-of-will and the stagnant mentality of the stammerer has
now given place to a vigorous, forceful, creative mental power. The
mind-wandering or lack of ability to concentrate is gone and in its
place is an intense and well controlled power-of-concentration. In
addition to this, the nervousness which marked the every movement of
the stammerer has disappeared and the self-consciousness which made
life a misery is replaced by a calm self-control, resulting in an
entire self-forgetfulness, perfect poise and a feeling of
self-possession.
These benefits accrue gradually as the course progresses, but when,
upon the completion of the course, perfect speech is finally restored,
the results are fully evident and entirely permanent. Their permanency
is the crowning result of the proper methods--methods which eradicate
the trouble at its source--treat and remove the cause instead of
treating the effect.
CHAPTER VIII
SOME CASES I HAVE MET
During the last twenty-eight years, I have personally met more than
22,000 stammerers, diagnosed 97,000 cases by mail and corresponded with
more than 210,000 people who stammer or stutter. In this time, it is
only natural that I should have come in contact with almost every
conceivable type of stammering in practically every form.
I am going to describe a few of these cases in this chapter, give their
history and description very briefly, follow out the course of the
trouble when unchecked and indicate the circumstances of cure when the
stammerer has placed himself for treatment.
I shall make no attempt to discuss all types of speech disorders nor
even all of the forms of any one type, but rather to take up those
cases which can be regarded as most common and which are typical of the
disorders of the largest number of stammerers and stutterers. Since a
whole volume could easily be filled with descriptions of cases, it is
evident that those discussed here must be but briefly described.
(The case numbers in the following pages refer to specific cases, but
not to the order of their treatment, since the classification is a
decimal system used to indicate type, duration, stage, etc.)
Case No. 65.435--This was a boy of 8, brought to me by his mother after
he had experienced untold trouble in school. The boy complained of a
pain in his head when making an effort to talk or after having spoken
under the strain for some minutes. I found the spasmodic contractions
accompanying his trouble to be very pronounced for a boy so young in
years and upon making the examination, was not surprised to find his to
be a case of Combined Stammering and Stuttering. There was no
indication of Thought-Lapse, but there was a condition that could
easily have been mistaken for it--viz.: a woeful lack of confidence in
his own ability to speak, which in this boy's case was due to the fact
that he had stuttered almost since his first word and had rarely spoken
words correctly. As has been previously explained, every child learns
to speak by imitation and his confidence in his speaking-ability must
be gained by constant reassurance from some source that he is speaking
correctly. Early in life this boy had found that he was NOT speaking
correctly and at that moment began to feel the lack of confidence which
had been growing upon him daily. Although in the midst of his school
work, arrangements were easily made to remove him from class and place
him for treatment. Notwithstanding the fact that his trouble was
unusually severe for a boy of that age, seven weeks at the Institute
saw him made into a new boy, his confidence regained, his speech under
perfect control and his physical condition greatly improved. He
returned to school, where his unusual proficiency enlisted the aid and
co-operation of his teachers to such an extent that he was able to
finish the semester with his class.
Case No. 7.232--This was another boy of early school age, whose case is
described here because of the contrast of the one just mentioned. The
present case was that of a boy soon to be 10 years old. He had
stammered, not since his first word, but only since he had been allowed
to play with two children, twins, who lived in the neighborhood, and
both of whom had stuttered since their first attempts to speak. While I
never examined the twins, it seems from what I learned of them, that
the predisposition to stammer was an inherited one, both the father and
grandfather having been inveterate stammerers. Be that as it may, their
defective enunciation, practiced in the presence of the boy whose case
I am describing, caused the boy himself to acquire a habit of imperfect
enunciation which took the form of simple stuttering and which all the
home efforts of his mother and father had failed to eradicate. At the
time he was brought to me, I gave him the usual examination, traced his
trouble back to its original cause--Unconscious Imitation diagnosed his
case as one of Simple Stuttering and recommended the procedure to be
followed. This boy left my care after three weeks and experienced no
further difficulty to this day, although he is now 24 years old and
engaged in work that necessitates his making impromptu speeches almost
every day. Here was a case of Simple Stuttering, taken at the right
time, which yielded almost magically to the treatment, but had it been
allowed to run on, would have progressed into the Advanced Stage of
Stuttering and later, in all probability, into an extremely severe case
of Combined Stammering and Stuttering.
Case No. 986.523--This was the case of a Polish boy who found it almost
impossible to begin a word or a sentence. In describing his case to me,
he finally managed to say, "Before I utter a word it takes me a long
time and after I utter the word, I become red in the face and so
excited that I don't know where I am, or what I am doing!" I found this
boy to be extremely high-strung and of a nervous temperament, easily
excited. He was of an emotional type, was more-than-ordinarily
sensitive about his trouble and brooded over it constantly, having long
fits of deep melancholia that were a constant source of worry to his
parents. He was furthermore at a critical age, from the standpoint of
his speech development, just approaching 16. Although naturally of an
agreeable disposition, his trouble had made him irritable and often
sullen. He wore an air of dejection almost constantly. It was evident
to me immediately upon examination that his trouble had had a grave
effect upon his mind and that it would in time (and not so long a time,
either) have a deep and permanent effect that no amount of effort could
eradicate.