THE CURE OF STAMMERING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4479, 17 July 1930, Page 1

THE CURE OF STAMMERING.

'The tendency to-day is to account tor the stammering habit by culling- it a purely, nervous disorder, says Mr. 11. St. John liumse>, instructor for speech delects at Guy’s Hospital, in the Loudon Daily Telegraph. Careful observation of children in general and stammerers in particular reveals the fact that nearly all small children between the ages of lour and .-.even “stumble” in their speech. At this stage the “stumble” in speech amounts to no more than the “stumble” wliiclx is universal in the case of all children learning to walk. By the age oh seven control of speech is established by ninety-nine children out of every hundred, it is from this moment l bat the child begins to he a “nervous stammerer,” and a vicious circle gradually establishes itself. First the child is nervous because of the stammer; then, anticipating failure to speak liuently, he fails more frequently than ever. Granted, then, that the nervous stam-na-m- has established, a vicious circle, the problem of a method of cure presents itself. (Now, it is an undeniable fact that all stammerers over-emphasise their eonsonn nis, and consequently “clip” their vowels. It is because when singing the attention is concentrated on the vowels that ail stammerers can sing fluently, if stammerers will stress /their vowels they will :tind that their consonants cease to present any diihculty. it is no easy matter to break down a habit of ten oi- twenty years, but if the attention is concentrated on all the vowel sounds stammerers will had a steadily increasing llucncy. This will act on their "nerves,” and as. the cause of their nervousness disappears their nervousness must decrease. .Nine-tenths of 'the cure rests with the stammerer himself.