DOES YOUR CHILD STAMMER?

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 388, 29 November 1946, Page 22

DOES YOUR CHILD STAMMER?

Speech Therapy in N.Z. Schools

(Written for

The Listener

N 13 New Zealand towns a social service exists -- speech therapy — which has had little publicity and deserves more. This I am going to try and give it. Speech therapists are not bespec-

tacled monsters with weird instruments and long. white coats — they : are a group of young | women among whom the average marriage rate at the moment is about 10 in 30. Of course, that is the Education Department’s worry, but it might encour-

age interested readers to investigate for themselves. Eight new students are being trained each year; I will refrain from working out their expectancy of professional! life. Perhaps part of the trouble lies in Reps: surroundings. The material provided is often the old room that no‘body else in the school wants; but place in occupation an ingenious speech ‘therapist (trained to expect this sort of thing), and the result is surprising. Edu‘cation Boards become co-operative, and story-books, paints and brushes, games and pictures, play material to delight ‘any child appear. Not to mention mys‘'terious couches gay with cushions, of which more later. A Speech Clinic has been born. A survey of the schools in ‘the district prompts the time-table, and "clinical treatment" may begin. The words have significance. Disinfectant, silence, and the scientific manner are suggested. But the somewhat debonair entrance of a small pupil seems ‘to strike an incongruous note-that is, to the traditionalist. Not to the unperturbed therapist; certainly not to the child. He advances volubly, and we discover that he has a severe stammer. It is at times hard to realise that this happy exterior conceals deep-rooted fears and anxieties; but at others the picture igs not quite the same. The stammer is a protest against a world which de‘mands too much, with which he cannot cope; and it is reasonable that the protest is made in other ways too. He may be naughty, un-co-operative, in fact, a problem, But in the Speech Clinic he finds a small secure world where he may ‘regain confidence and practise, as it were, for the tricky business of life outside. ‘He is given the chance to achieve small -successes,.and in many ways to "prove himself" as he has very probably not had the chance to do in ordinary spheres. Perhaps an older or brighter member of the family has overshadowed him; perhaps a broken home or lack of understanding at school has deprived him of security and love; all these are common features of case histories. %* HS * UT to return to our small boy. His choice is for paints and enormous brushes with which he proceeds to express what must surely be a turgid un-

conscious! He is absorbed, while his companion watches for significance in the splashes-or perhaps only trying desperately to decipher them without having to ask, which would be fatal. Discussion soon leads to general conversation, an important part of the treatment and one in which the speech therapist is usually particularly skilled. It is a big step in

the reiease of tears and anxieties which in some form lie at the root of the trouble. And here those couches reappear. Stretched out on one, the small body begins to lose its customary tension; the flow of conversation becomes quiet and

easier; as relaxation proceeds, the taut little mind also loosens. One day he will begin to induce a relaxed state of mind in himself; but when that happens, perhaps years away, he will be master in many other ways too, and undoubtedly no longer on the Clinic roll. * mt * HAT is a question often asked by visitors-‘"How long does it take to cure a stutter?" Like many visitors’ questions this is really unanswerable. In the first place, although a complete "cure" is often achieved, it cannot be guaranteed because so many vital factors, notably the child’s home environment, are outside a speech therapist’s control. Anyway "cure" is not a very suitable word, unless we take it to mean re-orientation of the whole personality, which is the objective. "Treat the stammerer, not the stammer," is a professional by-word and incidentally a very safe guide. Meanwhile the half-hour visit-no-body could call it a lesson-is. nearly over. No wonder the other children clamour to be allowed to come too (a somewhat embarrassing claim to refuse). Our patient is now reading aloud today’s instalment of his chosen storyit looks like the Bandits of Somewhere Exciting. This is the nearest he ever gets to actual speech guidance, and of course it is deeply disguised. Sometimes all the reading is done by the child himself (or herself, though this is much more rare), sometimes he listens, and some is read in unison, a useful exercise. No, that word is inappropriate; I mean activity. It will not seem altogether surprising if departure is a little reluctant. It is postponed a few minutes longer by a song at the piano (it is interesting to find that while singing no child ever stammers). That is over and he is gone -no, he is back; a piercing yell "Tag yer LAST!" and the door bangs. This is an old gag which involves sometimes stealth, sometimes cunning and strategy -and, by " way, no arene: % T will be obvious that every case is as complex and edifferent from other as children themselves are. But although Bernard Shaw says there are no Golden Rules I am going to presume to suggest a few. If your child stammers (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) do not draw attention to the fact, but try to find out why. Laughter and ridicule from brothers and sisters may cause a far deeper unhappiness than any that may have caused the stammer, and so make it worse. Something is wrong inside, and to irsitate the outside symptom is war worse than useless. Many children are being helped and enriched by attendance at a Speech Clinic-not stammerers only, but speech defectives of every kind-but the responsibility of prevention lies in the homes. I would venture to suggest that the number of stammerers enrolled in our Speech Clinics is in almost exact proportion to the number of unhappy and unstable homes, It seems that speech therapy is allied to charity in more ways than one.

L.