OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 72, 18 December 1920, Page 9

OUR BABIES

' (8y... "HyKcia.") Published under, the, auspices of the Royal New Zcnliind Society for the Health of Women and Children. "It'.'is..wis'ert.to put. tip a fence at the top..of a"precipice than to maintain a.u ambulance at the bottom."

STAIIiTERIKG OP OLDER CniLDKEtf. As explained last -week, this generally, 'commences' ;at'. -about, six-or- seveu - years of age—about' the 'time' when tlie second teeth , are .beginning to corno through. Jt sjiould bo dealt with promptly, and should ■ '■ uover be neglected imtl allowed to bo- ; < come a ilxcd-'nad confirmed, liabit. ' V ' It -is three time? more common in boys . . than girls. . It occurs msually in. boys of. . . . excitable, nervous-temperament', and' .'is, • generally speaking, a manifestation, of tiefestive nervous 'control. This may' be ../ : partly ' a hereditary manifestation; but, • : - even so, 'the • exciting* cause is usually some Berious • illnesß. or marked lowering of health—such :aa scarlet fever, diph- ... "theria,- influenza, whooping cough, -or ins digestion and malnutritions or it may be v.... .brought on.' by'shock. Occasionally stutt'ering. ariseß through imitation. . : : . Dr. Still says:— • - "Income childreu tho'stuttering is only sotioeable when the general health is V - poor; in most the difficulty is aggravated '/ "' whenever the. child is-tired—for instance,at«tho end of'long school hours. .In most oases.t-he.child is rather atove .the aver- •*~ age in intelligence;' the .child who 6t.utV ters is usually, the quick-witted, .thought* Jul, sensitive child. Charles Lamb was writ 1 down 4 an inveterate stutterer; but, ' " as he says of himself, 'his conceptions rose kindlier'than his utterances,' and.it waj» . i: ' ; ' Charles' ICingsley.-who wrote of his own ; difficulty in.-speechj 'that iearful curse 'of stammerine, which has.been my misery tince my. childhood.*" ; . ■ • s - ' Stuttering most. often takes the • form 1 • of repetition of .tho;flrst letter or the first * syllable of" certain "words. For_ example, •• ' "I'm • gug, gug, -gug, ; gug, going.; or. there-may be spasmodic drawing in ot ; ' the breath* or, a spasm which.makes tho. patient'unable-for a time to form w>rds he is. speechless lor. inability to ' l v Stutterers can. generally sing •» per : all right, and may.have-no difficulty 'i ,'Ui reading-aloud—especially poetry.

..TREATMENT.- •' The following • sumihary of treatment i» from Sir PrcdericU btill — ■' T Treatmenti of 6tutterine.-.lhe piesence ' nf- Btutterinir as a .transient pneiiomcnon ■ -.in early childhood durins the" normal d«- • . - -Telopment of wch shows that the.Coordination necessary to • tion ia only gradually acquired, it lias, in K to be learnt. And one may. assume that what is possible'in the earliest l' 01 1" of life is possible also for the stutterer later years: ho can ; W ith- perseyerauce " aoauire'the necessary corordination. • in order,.to do Ms..)*' -... t/i accustom not only the /muscles o[ ar 'ticulatlon but also those of breathing: to • ■ , orderly, action. , Por this breathing exercises are of ' ??• . they muet be done daily, and twice'a day, to be of :real -help. Next tjie "-ohild should practise daily reading!aloud arid sinsine:. the latter paiticulariy may '■ hB useful as an, intioducuou to the more ■ • difficult exercise of ."leading aloud; and fn? the reading or recititie?, nursery ' ■ rhymes or simple poeniß should- coma. • ■ fl?«t as the rhyme assist co-ordination; . an^'.so gradually tho child may read, or- - But' whatever . exercises are used, care ; X 9 w'ed e to k go unheff .Tthe Tt will be found that by. tolunß a- deep inspiration before-beginning a centence a ■ oViHd can itvoid Btuttering altogether. ' else tliero arc two rulee to. Sch thf Mnnat. pay attention /if he is to he cured; . ■ - • *1. Speak slowly. • • . ' : 2. Sp«aU qvietly-; . , , '