OUR BABIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 345, 4 May 1928, Page 5

OUR BABIES

By Hygeia. At under the auspices of the Royal New Zealand Society for t . l l® Health of Women and Children (Plunket Society). ' is wiser to put up a fence at the top of a precipice than to maintain an ambulance at the bottom.”

From time to time we are asked to advise about the cause and the treatment of stammering or stuttering in children, and we hope the following remarks may prove helpful to parents faced with the management of this problem. Stuttering is, of course, a manifestation of “nervousness” in children, and may be described as a co-ordination neurosis.” The Mechanism of Speech Good articulate speech is brought about by the more or less perfect coordination of three physical mechanisms presided over and directed by three separate centres of the nervous system, each of which has to be drilled to play its part in due time and harmonise with the other two. The three mechanisms are as follow: First, the bellows—in other words, the chest, which needs to be alternately inflated and compressed so as to maintain a more or less steady flow of air. Secondly, the larynx, a marvellous little musical pipe in the throat, through which the air from the bellows passes, regulated by the vocal cords.

Thirdly, the articulatory and resonating mechanism, of which the main chamber is the mouth, where the muscles of the tongue, jaws and cheeks play their part. The marvel is that any child can ever learn to co-ordinate these three separate mechanisms properly, seeing that each mechanism is itself complex and needs co-ordination within its own sphere, quite apart from the task of acting in due accord with the other two. Obviously such a wonderful complex of complexes should not be overtaxed or unduly stimulated. An Illustration of Co-ordination A consideration of violin or ’cello playing may be helpful in attempting to realise the difficulties of co-ordination, and how easily they may be upset. In playing the violin one hand is engaged in drawing the bow across the strings, while the other hand has the duty of directing articulation of the sounds, as it were, by means of the fingers playing on the strings. Excitement, overanxiety, or over-taxing and fatigue may cause the pupil to make rapid, spasmodic movements of the fingers on the strings while neglecting to draw the bow, and this rnay alternate with a frantic drawing of the bow, and failure to manipulate the strings. Carry the same idea into the playing of a wind instrument and you have the common phenomenon heard in stutterers who gasp and produce no sound heyond a mere indraw or meaningless phonation, and perhaps alternate this with spasmodic grimaces. Temperament ;NTaturally, people with a “nervous”

temperament—quick, alert, responsive and super-sensitive—are more likely to suffer from any form of defective power of control than those whose reactions are slower, and who, on the whole, would be classed as less bright and clever, but more stable. Over-stimulation

Some children are “brought out,” taught to recite, sing and otherwise perform before an audience. Apart from the fact that such practices usually mean loss of precious sleeping time, the consequent over-stimulation of the brain and nervous system is thoroughly bad, and may lead to various nervous manifestations, among which are stuttering, twitchings, annoying little tricks, and in extreme instances more or less complete nervous breakdown. Although some children appear to learn and perform without effort, and such are probably less taxed than their slower sisters, who undergo a more definite forcing process, the practice is wrong in either case, and the ultimate result is wholly bad. Charming as it undoubtedly is to watch a child perform, the sight loses its charm once one realises the damage which may be done to the rapidly growing, delicate little brain and nervous system by such over-strain. Learnt songs too often crush the song within —the natural, beautiful, unconscious urge to sing and shout at play. Curiously enough, constant over-sup-pression, nagging, or failure to understand a child, may bring about somewhat similar nervous tricks in a highlystrung. sensitive child. Treatment

The treatment largely lies, of course, in removal of the cause or causes, and then in re-education of the nervous coordination involved in correct articulation—not easy work on either line. The most skilled medical advice should be sought and carefully carried out. Generally speaking, parents tend to allow a trouble of this kind to develop insidiously for some time before making any systematic attempt to counteract it, and only consult a doctor when the habit has become thoroughly confirmed. This is a great mistake. The earliest signs of any manifestation of nervous inco-ordination should have serious attention. Treatment is infinitely easier in the early stages, and the chances of an ultimate cure much greater.

OUR FASHIONS WAIST-LINES AGAIN Waistlines are more defined than they have been - since the days when a waist was the vital part of one’s figure. This has been brought about by the popularity of the “robe de style.” The Changing Line Bodices follow the lines of the figure with gentle generous curves. Few frocks are directly cut in two with a waist-belt. The feeling is to dispense the fullness in clever pleating or tucking. A striking note at all shows is the leaning toward individuality. There is a firm, but tactful, insistence on a garment which suits the hour of the day. Sports clothes ma-r no longer be worn haphazardly in the afternoon. The afternoon frock has come into its own. It complies with the fashionable simple line, but the cut is intricate. Attractive Coats Winter overcoats are most atractive All of them, even those intended for sports wear, are lavishly fur trimmed. Roll fur collars continue from hem to hem. They will be seen on every other design. They will naturally be: presented in a vaifety of ways. A particularly appealing black coat showed the fur stitched down on one side, while on the other it hung loose like a long scarf. Velvet for Formal Wear Town coats are fashioned of velvet, satin, and every weave of woollen cloth. They are remarkable for clever geometrical insets and applications. Flat strapping is a novelty. Inlet darts are another change. A naval coat was trimmed in this manner. Black satin darts were used. Sports coats are made of figured cloths. The new tweeds and checks are a complicated mass of geometrical figures. Dots, circles, triangles and squares figure largely. A very favourite shade is a warm Indian red.

WOMAN, THE PIONEER REVIVAL OF DOMESTICITY Some day the historians will record: “There was a remarkable revival of domesticity during the period following the Great War.” They will chronicle the true inwardness and real significance of the feminist movement. The crux and centre toward which all those enfranchised feminine activities converged. The remodelling, the salvation of the home. The endowment of domesticity with artistry, beauty and brains. At present we are too near the reality to envisage it in the true. And find ourselves, as home-making and wage>earning feminists, assailed on every hand by the gibes and distortions of the malicious, the shortsighted, and the ignorant, who see, or affect to see, in our bid for freedom a craving for unbridled licence and the selfish exploitation of the feminine ego. History will show up these superficial censors in their proper light.

For, meanwhile, side by side with these frohty calumnies, in the same newspapers, are featured scientific, artistic, hygienic, medical, psychological and countless other topics in which the modern domesticated woman is presumed to take a lively and intelligent interest. By virtue of that freedom so deplored—often in an adjacent column! —they are credited with the expanded and constantly expanding outlook made possible by the lengthened leisure for study and observation that has resulted from the wageearning activities of the pioneers. For it is to their duality of effort that womanhood as a whole owes the labour-saving regime which slowly but surely is attaining to a universalised level of domestic efficiency. Those women who were set and moulded in the old, rule-of-thumb domestic framework ere they could avail themselves of wage-earning opportunities, are today enjoying the benefits conferred on them by those of their kin who have learned how to combine the two roles of housecraft and a career. The home is dying, if not already dead, croak the ravens in our midst. The newspaper editors know better! Never has the feminine element as related to the home, and apart from fashions, been so assiduously studied from the live-wire precincts of the editorial chair. These modern women for whom they have now to cater, whose energies are divided between outside work and the home, form an increasing proportion of their regular readers. Home, ran the old adage, was the Englishman’s castle. It is the modern Englishwoman’s kingdom glorified and idealised by the sweat of her wage-earning brow.