Stuttering

“ The most interesting methods of treatment for stuttering are those which involve the use of various hindrances to speech and which would seem to be least likely to make it possible for a person already laboring under speech difficulties to talk with more ease. The secret is, of course, that the added impediments so distract the attention of the patient that he is unconscious of the co-ordination necessary for speech and so accomplishes it without difficulty. It is because of over-attention to himself that the disturbance occurs. ”

“ The stuttering of the very young can usually be overcome by a little careful training, if it is taken early and treated patiently by a competent teacher. Not infrequently a certain amount of stuttering develops at puberty when the voice changes, partly due to the inability of muscles and nerves to co-ordinate so easily as before upon the rapidly-enlarging vocal chords and larynx, and partly to that greatly increased self-consciousness amounting almost to painful bashfulness which develops in boys about this time. ”

“ Stuttering Walk.—Stuttering, after all, comes most naturally under the head of dreads in the classification of the psychoses. Stuttering is not a physical difficulty so much as a nervous apprehension, and there may be a stuttering in any co-ordination as in speech. I have a patient under observation who, if people are looking at her, finds so much difficulty in walking because of a trembling that comes over her that she fears she may not be able to keep from falling. ”

“ When stuttering occurs in women the defect is much less tractable and is usually dependent on a more serious disturbance of the psyche or of the central nervous system. The prognosis of cases of stuttering in women is not so good as in men, but remarkable cures are sometimes effected by mental treatment of the self-consciousness which causes the speech defect. ”

“ The type of asynergy and more particularly of accessory movements differ so widely that it is impossible to state that any special form of breathing, or articulation, or of vocalization is the fundamental factor in stuttering. Disturbances of pulse rate, of blood distribution and in psychogalvanic variations, appearing before, during and after the speaking interval, and the intensity of which varies approximately with the severity of the stuttering, accompany the motor manifestations of stuttering. ”

“ Stuttering deserves special treatment in a work on psychotherapy because it illustrates very strikingly one phase at least of mental influence over bodily function. While in the study of the etiology of the disease much has been made of anatomical features, nerves and muscles and anatomical anomalies of the speech organs and the respiratory tract, the sufferers from stuttering are certainly quite up to the average both in the physiology and anatomy of these regions. ”

“ Stuttering and all speech defects are much worse when the patient is laboring under excitement. This is so amusingly true that the impotence of a stutterer to say a word when he wants very much to say it is a commonplace in the cheap drama and never fails to raise a laugh. In ordinary conversation with friends the stutterer may have little difficulty. As soon, however, as he begins to talk with those with whom he is unfamiliar his speech defect becomes noticeable. ”

“ The essential condition in stuttering is the complex state of mind, the quality rather than the intensity of these feeling states governing the rise of stuttering. Such feeling states as fear, anxiety, dread, shame, embarrassment, in fact, those feelings that tend toward inhibition and repression, are most likely to precede stuttering, and probably operate in a vicious circle as both cause and effect. The permanent condition of nervousness thought to be characteristic of stutterers should be regarded as effect rather than cause. ”

“ It appears that the person afflicted is not conscious of his difficulty for he insists that he does not s-s-s-s-tut-tut-tut-ter. Unconscious Stuttering is but a name for the disorder of a stutterer who is too stubborn to admit his own difficulty.
THOUGHT STUTTERING: This is an advanced form of stuttering which is also known as Aphasia and which is caused by the inability of the sufferer to recall the mental images necessary to the formation of a word. Stuttering in its simpler forms is usually connected with the period of childhood, while aphasia is often connected with old age or injury. ”

“ When stuttering in this stage is permitted to continue its hold upon the sufferer, the continued strain, worry and fear bring about a condition of extraordinary malignancy, in which the trouble develops into the Chronic Mental Stage. This is a condition bordering upon mental breakdown and even though the complete breakdown never occurs, the one afflicted finds himself a chronic stutterer, without surcease from his trouble. He further finds that he has increasing difficulty in thinking of the things which he wishes to say. ”

“ The significant fact about stuttering in children as far as it relates to the period of adolescence, is that this stage marks the most pronounced susceptibility to the malady as well as the time during which it may most quickly pass into the chronic stage. Examinations show that the largest percentage of stutterers among boys was at the ages of eight, thirteen and sixteen, while the largest percentage among girls was at the ages of seven, twelve and sixteen—the earlier age of severity in girls being explained by the fact that the girl reaches a given state of maturity more quickly than a boy. ”

“ To the stammerer's question: "When should I begin treatment for my stammering?" and "At what stage will I stand the best chance of being most quickly cured?" there is but one answer. The time for the stammerer or stutterer to begin treatment for his malady is the day he discovers his stammering or stuttering. The best chance for being quickly cured exists today. ”

“ The disorder having been caused by a too hasty mode of thinking, superinduced, as a rule, by a desire not to stutter, or a fear of stuttering, the remedy lies in allaying this fear. The fear of stuttering, or the anxiety not to stutter, which obtains while the speaker is producing thought, itself being thought, and coming on top of the thought intended to be uttered, brings about, or at least aggravates, the very difficulty he was trying to overcome. Mere thought may wander off and again return to its theme, unrestrained, and without causing disturbance ”

“ It is known that stuttering is due to an improper control of certain muscles, and that anything which excites or draws attention to the afflicted child will cause him to stutter more than usual. It is in the first grade that the habit becomes exaggerated; that is, a child that stutters very little when he enters school may have the difficulty intensified during his first year in school. This is due to the large amount of attention given to the child by the other pupils and by the teacher. ”

“ It may be noted, however, that Imitation is not always conscious, but often unconscious. The small child begins to imitate the stuttering companion without knowing that he engages in imitation. This practice, notwithstanding the fact that it is unconscious, soon develops into stuttering, without any cause being assignable by the parent until investigation develops that unconscious and even unnoticed imitation is the basic cause of the defective utterance. ”

“ Cases of stammering and stuttering where no organic defect is present are due to a lack of co-ordination between the brain and the muscles of speech. In other words, the harmony between the brain and the speech organs which normally result in smooth working and perfect speech has been interrupted. The brain impulses are no longer properly transmitted to and executed by the muscles of speech. ”

“ Disease may cause stuttering or stammering as an immediate after effect or the speech trouble may not show up for considerable time, depending altogether upon the individual. But regardless of the length of time elapsing between the disease which predisposes the individual to the speech disorder and the time of the first evidence of its presence, diagnosis reveals but an insignificant percentage of organic defects in these cases resulting from disease, indicating that even here the predominant causative factor is a mental one. ”

“ It IS true, however, that more care on the part of the parent in looking after the formation of speech habits in the Pre-Speaking and Formative Periods of the child's speech development, would result in fewer cases of chronic stammering and stuttering in later life. ”

“ Almost without exception, the stutterer or stammerer can sing without any difficulty, can talk to animals without stuttering or stammering, can talk when alone and in some cases can talk perfectly in a whisper. Some stammerers have less difficulty in talking to strangers than in talking to friends or relatives while in other cases, the condition is exactly reversed. A stutterer or stammerer almost always experiences difficulty in speaking over the telephone. ”

“ S, too, comes under consideration in the case of stuttering, so far as impulses go out from it for the pronunciation of the syllables.
Children who can not yet speak of themselves but can repeat what is said for them, exert themselves unnecessarily, making a strong expiratory effort (with the help of abdominal pressure) to repeat a syllable still unfamiliar, and they pause between the doubled or tripled consonant and vowel. ”

“ While he was a medical man of known ability, he had not made a study of speech disorders and knew practically nothing about either the cause or cure of stammering or stuttering. Even today, prominent medical men will tell you that their profession has given little or no attention to defects of speech and take little interest in such cases. ”

“ Stuttering has a tendency to be inherited, and it affects four times as many males as females. Children usually outgrow stuttering before reaching adulthood. When the disorder continues or begins in adults, it is considered chronic and very difficult to control. ”

“ It is such an impediment to usefulness as stuttering is to speech,—a sort of spiritual indigestion; a hesitation in your carbureter. By all means, be a gentleman, in manners and spirit, in so far as you know how, but be one from the inside out. ”

“ The very first caution for the teacher is positively to pay no apparent attention at all to a child’s stuttering. If a teacher can do this, it will have a marked effect upon the other pupils in making them pay less heed to it and in due time they will become accustomed to the peculiarity and not notice it at all. If other children are inclined to laugh or tease, the teacher should remain serious and the attention of the children should immediately be directed to another pupil whom she will call upon to recite.
A stuttering child must have plenty of exercise and fresh air. ”

“ Speaking too slowly is also a defect, opposite in kind from rapid speech, and is caused by the mind moving too slowly in thinking. The remedy is to think faster, and urge the tongue to move quicker.
Stuttering.
When you have too slow thought and too rapid speech, you have stuttering; for the tongue keeps moving all the time while the thought is coming, and it repeats syllables or [Pg 94] words. Make the mind of the stutterer move faster, and the tongue talk slower. ”

“ At this time in the life of the boy or girl, the possibilities for stuttering or stammering to secure a firm hold on their muscular and nervous system are very great. Next to the age of second dentition, children at the age of puberty are most susceptible to stammering or stuttering.
During adolescence, the annual rate of growth in height, weight and strength is increased and often doubled or more. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Displacement of the mouth to the right is the movement of longest duration, and while it persists the patient is capable of stuttering speech, without relaxing her lips. The other tics last but a few seconds, while all vanish if she laughs or opens her mouth wide to exhibit her tongue. ”

“ Take the case of a child eight years of age who has a case of simple stuttering. Permit the child to go without attention for some time and the trouble will have progressed into the Advanced Phase, usually without the knowledge of the child or his parents or without any especially noticeable surface change in his condition. ”

“ The chief danger, however, resulting from these periods of temporary improvement, is the belief that it instills into the mind of the sufferer and more frequently into the minds of the parents of stuttering or stammering children, that the trouble will cure itself—a fallacy greater than which there is none.
Stuttering and stammering are destructive maladies. They tear down both body and mind but they have not the slightest power to build up. ”