STAMMERING

ITS CAUSE AND CURE

BY

BENJAMIN NATHANIEL BOGUE

A Chronic Stammerer for Almost Twenty Years; Originator of the BogueUnit Method of Restoring Perfect Speech; Founder of the Bogue Institutefor Stammerers and Editor of the "Emancipator, " a magazine devoted tothe Interests of Perfect Speech

TO MY MOTHER

That wonderful woman whose unflagging courage held me to a task that Inever could have completed alone and who when all others failed, stoodby me, encouraged me and pointed out the heights where laysuccess--this volume is dedicated

CONTENTS

Preface

PART I--MY LIFE AS A STAMMERER

 I. Starting Life Under a Handicap II. My First Attempt to Be Cured III. My Search Continues IV. A Stammerer Hunts a Job V. Further Futile Attempts to Be Cured VI. I Refuse to Be Discouraged VII. The Benefit of Many Failures VIII. Beginning Where Others Had Left Off

PART II--STAMMERING AND STUTTERING

The Causes, Peculiarities, Tendencies and Effects

 I. Speech Disorders Defined II. The Causes of Stuttering and Stammering III. The Peculiarities of Stuttering and Stammering IV. The Intermittent Tendency V. The Progressive Tendency VI. Can Stammering and Stuttering Be Outgrown? VII. The Effect on the Mind VIII. The Effect on the Body IX. Defective Speech in Children, (1) The Pre-Speaking Period X. Defective Speech in Children, (2) The Formative Period XI. Defective Speech in Children, (3) The Speech-Setting Period XII. The Speech Disorders of Youth XIII. Where Does Stammering Lead?

PART III--THE CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING

 I. Can Stammering Really Be Cured? II. Cases That "Cure Themselves" III. Cases That Cannot Be Cured IV. Can Stammering Be Cured by Mail? V. The Importance of Expert Diagnosis VI. The Secret of Curing Stuttering and Stammering VII. The Bogue Unit Method Described VIII. Some Cases I Have Met

PART IV--SETTING THE TONGUE FREE

 I. The Joy of Perfect Speech II. How to Determine Whether You Can Be Cured III. The Bogue Guarantee and What It Means IV. The Cure Is Permanent V. A Priceless Gift--An Everlasting Investment VI. The Home of Perfect Speech VII. My Mother and The Home Life at the Institute VIII. A Heart-to-Heart Talk with Parents IX. The Dangers of Delay

PREFACE

Considerably more than a third of a century has elapsed since Ipurchased my first book on stammering. I still have that quaint littlebook made up in its typically English style with small pages, smalltype and yellow paper back--the work of an English author whose obtuseand half-baked theories certainly lent no clarity to the stammerer'sunderstanding of his trouble. Since that first purchase my library ofbooks on stammering has grown until it is perhaps the largestindividual collection in the world. I have read these books--many ofthem several times, pondered over the obscurities in some, smiled atthe absurdities in others and benefited by the truths in a few. Yet, with all their profound explanations of theories and their verbosedefense of hopelessly unscientific methods, the stammerer would bedisappointed indeed, should he attempt to find in the entire collectiona practical and understandable discussion of his trouble. 

This insufficiency of existing books on stammering has encouraged me tobring out the present volume. It is needed. I know this--because Ispent almost twenty years of my life in a well-nigh futile search forthe very knowledge herein revealed. I haunted the libraries, was afamiliar figure in book stores and a frequent visitor to thesecond-hand dealer. Yet these efforts brought me comparativelylittle--not one-tenth the information that this book contains. 

Perhaps it is but a colossal conceit that prompts me to offer thisvolume to those who stutter and stammer as I did. Yet, I cannot butbelieve that almost twenty years' personal experience as a stammererplus more than twenty-eight years' experience in curing speechdisorders has supplied me with an intensely practical, valuable andworth-while knowledge on which to base this book. 

After having stammered for twenty years you have pretty well run thewhole gamut of mockery, humiliation and failure. You understand thestammerer's feelings, his mental processes and his peculiarities. 

And when you add to this more than a quarter of a century, every wakinghour of which has been spent in alleviating the stammerer'sdifficulty--and successfully, too--you have a ground-work of first-handinformation that tends toward facts instead of fiction and towardpractice instead of theory. 

These are my qualifications. 

I have spent a life-time in studying stammering, stuttering and kindredspeech defects. I have written this book out of the fullness of thatexperience--I might almost say out of my daily work. I have made noattempt at literary style or rhetorical excellence and while the workmay be homely in expression the information it contains is definite andpositive--and what is more important--it is authoritative. 

I hope the reader will find the book useful--yes, and helpful. I hopehe will find in it the way to Freedom of Speech--his birthright and thebirthright of every man. 

BENJAMIN NATHANIEL BOGUE

Indianapolis September, 1929

STAMMERING

Its Cause and Cure

PART I

MY LIFE AS A STAMMERER

CHAPTER I

STARTING LIFE UNDER A HANDICAP

I was laughed at for nearly twenty years because I stammered. I foundschool a burden, college a practical impossibility and life a miserybecause of my affliction. 

I was born in Wabash county, Indiana, and as far back as I canremember, there was never a time when I did not stammer or stutter. Sofar as I know, the halting utterance came with the first word I spokeand for almost twenty years this difficulty continued to dog merelentlessly. 

When six years of age, I went to the little school house down the road, little realizing what I was to go through with there before I left. 

Previous to the time I entered school, those around me were my family, my relatives and my friends--people who were very kind and considerate, who never spoke of my difficulty in my presence, and certainly neverlaughed at me. 

At school, it was quite another matter. It was fun for the other boysto hear me speak and it was common pastime with them to get me to talkwhenever possible. They would jibe and jeer--and then ask, "What didyou say? Why don't you learn to talk English?" Their best entertainmentwas to tease and mock me until I became angry, taunt me when I did, andridicule me at every turn. 

It was not only in the school yard and going to and from school that Isuffered--but also in class. When I got up to recite, what a spectacleI made, hesitating over every other word, stumbling along, gasping forbreath, waiting while speech returned to me. And how they laughed atme--for then I was helpless to defend myself. True, my teachers triedto be kind to me, but that did not make me talk normally like otherchildren, nor did it always prevent the others from laughing at me. 

The reader can imagine my state of mind during these school days. Ifairly hated even to start to school in the morning--not because Idisliked to go to school, but because I was sure to meet some of mytaunting comrades, sure to be humiliated and laughed at because Istammered. And having reached the school room I had to face theprospect of failing every time I stood up on my feet and tried torecite. 

There were four things I looked forward to with positive dread--thetrip to school, the recitations in class, recess in the school yard andthe trip home again. It makes me shudder even now to think of thosedays--the dread with which I left that home of mine every school daymorning, the nervous strain, the torment and torture, and the constantfear of failure which never left me. Imagine my thoughts as I leftparents and friends to face the ribald laughter of those who did notunderstand. I asked myself: "Well, what new disgrace today? Whom will Imeet this morning? What will the teacher say when I stumble? How shallI get through recess? What is the easiest way home?"

These and a hundred other questions, born of nervousness and fear, Iasked myself morning after morning. And day after day, as the hoursdragged by, I would wonder, "Will this day NEVER end? Will I NEVER getout of this?"

Such was my life in school. And such is the daily life of thousands ofboys and hundreds of girls--a life of dread, of constant fear, ofendless worry and unceasing nervousness. 

But, as I look back at the boys and girls who helped to make lifemiserable for me in school, I feel for them only kindness. I bear nomalice. They did no more than their fathers and mothers, many of them, would have done. They little realized what they were doing. They had nointention to do me personal injury, though there is no question in mymind but that they made my trouble worse. They did not know howterribly they were punishing me. They saw in my affliction only fun, while I saw in it--only misery. 

CHAPTER II

MY FIRST ATTEMPT TO BE CURED

I can remember very clearly the positive fear which always accompanieda visit to our friends or neighbors, or the advent of visitors at myhome. Many a time I did not have what I desired to eat because I wasafraid to ask for it. When I did ask, every eye was turned on me, andthe looks of the strangers, with now and then a half-suppressed smile, worked me up to a nervous state that was almost hysterical, causing meto stutter worse than at any other time. 

At one time--I do not remember what the occasion was--a number ofpeople had come to visit us. A large table had been set and loaded withgood things. We sat down, the many dishes were passed around the table, as was the custom at our home, and I said not a word. But before longthe first helping was gone--a hungry boy soon cleans his plate--and Iwas about to ask for more when I bethought myself. "Please pass--" Icould never do it--"p" was one of the hard sounds for me. "Pleasepass--" No, I couldn't do it. So busying myself with the things thatwere near at hand and helping myself to those things which came my way, I made out the meal--but I got up from the table hungry and with adeeper consciousness of the awfulness of my affliction. Slowly it beganto dawn on me that as long as I stammered I was doomed to do withoutmuch of the world's goods. I began to see that although I might for atime sit at the World's Table of Good Things in Life I could hope tohave little save that which someone passed on to me gratuitously. 

As long as I was at home with my parents, life went along fairly well. They understood my difficulty, they sympathized with me, and theylooked at my trouble in the same light as myself--as an affliction muchto be regretted. At home I was not required to do anything which wouldembarrass me or cause me to become highly excited because of mystraining to talk, but on the other hand I was permitted to do thingswhich I could do well, without talking to any one. 

The time was coming, however, when it would be "Sink or Swim" for me, since it would not be many years until a sense of duty, if nothingelse, would send me out to make my own way. This time comes to allboys. It was soon to be MY task to face the world--to make a living formyself. And this was a thing which, strangely enough for a boy of myage, I began to think about. I had some experience in meeting peopleand in trying to transact some of the minor business connected with ourfarm and I found out that I had no chance along that line as long as Istammered. 

And yet it seemed as if I was to be compelled to continue to stammerthe rest of my life, for my condition was getting worse every day. Thiswas very clear to me--and very plain to my parents. They were anxiousto do something for me and do it quickly, so they called in a skilledphysician. They told him about my trouble. He gave me a cursoryexamination and decided that my stuttering was caused by nervousness, and gave me some very distasteful medicine, which I was compelled totake three times a day. This medicine did me no good. I took it forfive years, but there was no progress made toward curing my stuttering. The reason was simple. Stuttering cannot be cured by bitter medicine. The physician was using the wrong method. He was treating the effectand not the cause. He was of the opinion that it was the nervousnessthat caused my stuttering, whereas the fact of the matter was, it wasmy stuttering that caused the nervousness. 

I do not blame this physician in the least because of his failure, forhe was not an expert on the subject of speech defects. While he was amedical man of known ability, he had not made a study of speechdisorders and knew practically nothing about either the cause or cureof stammering or stuttering. Even today, prominent medical men willtell you that their profession has given little or no attention todefects of speech and take little interest in such cases. 

Some time later, after the physician had failed to benefit me, atraveling medicine man came to our community, set up his tent, andstayed for a week. Of course, like all traveling medicine men, hisremedies were cure-alls. One night in making his talk before the crowd, he mentioned the fact that his wonderful concoction, taken with thepamphlet that he would furnish, both for the sum of one dollar, wouldcure stammering. I didn't have the dollar, so I did not buy. But thenext day I went back, and I took the dollar along. He got my dollar, and I still have the book. Of course, I received no benefit whatever. Ilater came to the conclusion that the medicine man had been in theneighborhood long enough to have pointed out to him "BEN BOGUE'S BOYWHO STUTTERS" (as I was known) and had decided that when I was in hisaudience a hint or two on the virtues of his wonderful remedy in casesof stammering, would be sufficient to extract a dollar from me for atryout. 

These experiences, however, were valuable to me, even though they werecostly, for they taught me a badly-needed lesson, to wit: That drugsand medicines are not a cure for stammering. 

Many of the people who came in contact with me, and those who talkedthe matter over with my parents, said that I would outgrow the trouble. "All that is necessary, " remarked one man, "is for him to forget thathe stammers, and the trouble will be gone. "

This was a rather foolish suggestion and simply proved how little theman knew about the subject. In the first place, a stammerer cannotforget his difficulty--who can say that he would be cured if he did?You might as well say to a man holding a hot poker, "If you will onlyforget that the poker is hot, it will be cool. " It takes something morethan forgetfulness to cure stammering. 

The belief held by both my parents and myself that I would outgrow mydifficulty was one of the gravest mistakes we ever made. Had I followedthe advice of others who believed in the outgrowing theory iteventually would have caused me to become a confirmed stammerer, entirely beyond hope of cure. 

Today, as a result of twenty-eight years' daily contact withstammerers, I know that stammering cannot be outgrown. The man whosuggests that it is possible to cure stammering by outgrowing it isdoing a great injustice to the stammerer, because he is giving him afalse hope--in fact the most futile hope that any stammerer ever had. Iwish I could paint in the sky, in letters of fire, the truth that"Stammering cannot be outgrown, " because this, of all things, is themost frequent pitfall of the stammerer, his greatest delusion and oneof the most prolific causes of continued suffering. I know whereof Ispeak, because I tried it myself. I know how many different people heldup to me the hope that I would outgrow it. 

My father offered me a valuable shotgun if I would stop stammering. Mymother offered me money, a watch and a horse and buggy. Theseinducements made me strain every nerve to stop my imperfect utterance, but all to no avail. At this time I knew nothing of the underlyingprinciples of speech and any effort which I made to stop my stammeringwas merely a crude, misdirected attempt which naturally had no chancesfor success. 

I learned that prizes will never cure stammering. I found out too, something I have never since forgotten: that the man, woman or childwho stammers needs no inducement to cause him to desire to be cured, because the change from his condition as a stammerer to that of anonstammerer is of more inducement to the sufferer than all the moneyyou could offer him. I have never yet seen a man, woman or child whowanted to stammer or stutter. 

The offer of prizes doing no good, I took long trips to get my mind offthe affliction. I did everything in my power, worked almost day andnight, exerted every effort I could command--it was all in vain. 

The idea that I would finally outgrow my difficulty was strengthened inthe minds of my parents and friends by the fact that there were timeswhen my impediment seemed almost to disappear, but to our surprise anddisappointment, it always came back again, each time in a moreaggravated form; each time with a stronger hold upon me than everbefore. 

I found out, then, one of the fundamental characteristics ofstammering--its intermittent tendency. In other words, I discoveredthat a partial relief from the difficulty was one of the true symptomsof the malady. And I learned further that this relief is only temporaryand not what we first thought it to be, viz: a sign that the disorderwas leaving. 

CHAPTER III

MY SEARCH CONTINUES

My parents' efforts to have me cured, however, did not cease with myvisit to the medicine man. We were still looking for something thatwould bring relief. My teacher, Miss Cora Critchlow, handed me anadvertisement one day, telling me of a man who claimed to be able tocure stammering by mail. In the hope that I would get some good fromthe treatment, my parents sent this mail order man a large sum ofmoney. In return for this I was furnished with instructions to do anumber of useless things, such as holding toothpicks between my teeth, talking through my nose, whistling before I spoke a word, and manyother foolish things. It was at this time that I learned once and forall, the imprudence of throwing money away on these mail order "cures, "so-called, and I made up my mind to bother no more with this man andhis kind. 

So far as the mail order instructions were concerned, they were crudeand unscientific--merely a hodge-podge of pseudo-technical phraseologyand crass ignorance--a meaningless jargon scarcely intelligible to themost highly educated, and practically impossible of interpretation bythe average stammerer who was supposed to follow the course. Even afterI had, by persistent effort, interpreted the instructions and followedthem closely for many months, there was not a sign of the slightestrelief from my trouble. It was evident to me even then that I couldnever cure myself by following a mail cure. 

Today, after twenty-eight years of experience in the cure ofstammering, I can say with full authority, that stammering cannot besuccessfully treated by mail. The very nature of the difficulty, aswell as the method of treatment, make it impossible to put theinstructions into print or to have the stammerer follow out the methodfrom a printed sheet. 

As I approached manhood, my impediment began to get worse. Mystuttering changed to stammering. Instead of rapidly repeatingsyllables or words, I was unable to begin a word. I stood transfixed, my limbs drawing themselves into all kinds of unnatural positions. There were violent spasmodic movements of the head, and contractions ofmy whole body. The muscles of my throat would swell, affecting therespiratory organs, and causing a curious barking sound. When I finallygot started, I would utter the first part of the sentence slowly, gradually increase the speed, and make a rush toward the end. 

At other times, when attempting to speak, my lips would pucker up, firmly set together, and I would be unable to separate them, until mybreath was exhausted. Then I would gasp for more breath, strugglingwith the words I desired to speak, until the veins of my forehead wouldswell, my face would become red, and I would sink back, wholly unableto express myself, and usually being obliged to resort to writing. 

These paroxysms left me extremely nervous and in a seriously weakenedcondition. After one of these attacks, the cold perspiration wouldbreak out on my forehead in great beads and I would sink into thenearest chair, where I would be compelled to remain until I hadregained my strength. 

My affliction was taking all my energy, sapping my strength, deadeningmy mental faculties, and placing me at a hopeless disadvantage in everyway. I could do nothing that other people did. I appeared unnatural. Iwas nervous, irritable, despondent. This despondency now brought abouta peculiar condition. I began to believe that everyone was more or lessan enemy of mine. And still worse, I came to believe that I was anenemy of myself, which feeling threw me into despair, the depths ofwhich I do not wish to recall, even now. 

I was not only miserably unhappy myself, I made everyone else around meunhappy, although I did it, not intentionally, but because myaffliction had caused me to lose control of myself. 

In this condition, my nerves were strained to the breaking point allday long, and many a night I can remember crying myself tosleep--crying purely to relieve that stored-up nervous tension, and failing off to sleep as a result of exhaustion. 

As I said before, there were periods of grace when the trouble seemedalmost to vanish and I would be delighted to believe that perhaps itwas gone forever--happy hope! But it was but a delusion, a mirage inthe distance, a new road to lead me astray. The affliction alwaysreturned, as every stammerer knows--returned worse than before. All thehopes that I would outgrow my trouble, were found to be false hopes. For me, there was no such thing as outgrowing it and I have sincediscovered that after the age of six only one-fifth of one per cent. Ever outgrow the trouble. 

Another thing which I always thought peculiar when I was a stammererwas the fact that I had practically no difficulty in talking to animalswhen I was alone with them. I remember very well that we had a largebulldog called Jim, which I was very fond of. I used to believe thatJim understood my troubles better than any friend I had, unless it wasOld Sol, our family driving horse. 

Jim used to go with me on all my jaunts--I could talk to him by thehour and never stammer a word. And Old Sol--well, when everythingseemed to be going against me, I used to go out and talk things overwith Old Sol. Somehow he seemed to understand--he used to whinneysoftly and rub his nose against my shoulder as if to say, "Iunderstand, Bennie, I understand!"

Somehow my father had discovered this peculiarity of myaffliction--that is, my ability to talk to animals or when alone. Something suggested to him that my stammering could be cured, if Icould be kept by myself for several weeks. With this thought in mind, he suggested that I go on a hunting and fishing trip in the wilds ofthe northwest, taking no guide, no companion of any sort, so that therewould be no necessity of my speaking to any human being while I wasgone. 

My father's idea was that if my vocal organs had a complete rest, Iwould be restored to perfect speech. As I afterwards proved to my ownsatisfaction by actual trial, this idea was entirely wrong. You can nothope to restore the proper action of your vocal organs by ceasing touse them. The proper functioning of any bodily organ is the result, notof ceasing to use it at all, but rather of using it correctly. 

This can be very easily proved to the satisfaction of any one. Take thecase of the small boy who boasts of his muscle. He is conscious of anincreasing strength in the muscles of his arm not because he has failedto use these muscles but because he has used them continually, causinga faster-than-ordinary development. 

You can readily imagine that I looked forward to my "vacation" withkeen anticipation, for I had never been up in the northwest and I wasfull of stories I had read and ideas I had formed of its wonders. 

The trip, lasting two weeks, did me scarcely any good at all. The mostI can say for it is that it quieted my nerves and put me in somewhatbetter physical condition, which a couple of weeks in the outdoorcountry would do for any growing boy. 

But this trip did not cure my stammering, nor did it tend to alleviatethe intensity of the trouble in the least, save through a lessenednervous state for a few days. Today, after twenty-eight years'experience, I know that it would be just as sensible to say that awagon stuck in the soft mud would get out by "resting" there as it isto say that stammering can be eradicated by allowing the vocal organsto rest through disuse. 

Shortly after my return from the trip to the northwest, my father died, with the result that our household was, for a time, very much brokenup. For a while, at least, my stammering, though not forgotten, did notreceive a great deal of attention, for there were many other things tothink about. 

The summer following my father's death, however, I began again myso-far fruitless search for a cure for my stammering, this time placingmyself under the care and instruction of a man claiming to be "TheWorld's Greatest Specialist in the Cure of Stammering. " He may havebeen the world's greatest specialist, but not in the cure ofstammering. He did succeed, however, by the use of his absurd methods, in putting me through a course that resulted in the membrane and liningof my throat and vocal organs becoming irritated and inflamed to suchan extent that I was compelled to undergo treatment for a throataffection that threatened to be as serious as the stammering itself. 

I tried everything that came to my attention--first one thing and thenanother--but without results. Still I refused to be discouraged. I kepton and on, my mother constantly encouraging and reassuring me. And youwill later see that I found a method that cured me. 

There are always those who stand idly about and say, "It can't bedone!" Such people as these laughed at Fulton with his steamboat, theylaughed at Stephenson and his steam locomotive, they laughed at Wrightand the airplane. 

They say, "It can't be done"--but it is done, nevertheless. 

I turned a deaf ear to the people who tried to convince me that itcouldn't be done. I had a firm belief in that old adage, "Where thereis a will there is a way, " and I made another of my own, which said, "Iwill FIND a way or MAKE one!"

And I did!

CHAPTER IV

A STAMMERER HUNTS A JOB

After recovering from my sad experiment with the "WonderfulSpecialist, " I did not want to go home and listen to the Anvil Chorusof "It Can't Be Done!" and "I Told You So!" I had no desire to be theobject of laughter as well as pity. So I tried to get a job in thatsame city. I went from office to office--but nobody had a job for a manwho stammered. 

Finally I did land a job, however, such as it was. My duties were tooperate the elevator in a hotel. How I managed to get that job, I oftenwonder now, for nobody on whom I called had any place for a boy or manwho stammered. I thought it would be easy to find a job where Iwouldn't need to talk, but when I started out to look for this job, Ifound it wasn't so easy after all. Almost any job requires a man whocan talk. This I had learned in my own search for a place. But somehowor other, I managed to get that job as elevator boy in a hotel. 

For the work as elevator boy I was paid three dollars a week. Wasn'tthat great pay for a man grown? But that's what I got. 

That is, I got it for a little while, until I lost my job. For lose itI did before very long. I found out that I couldn't do much with evenan elevator boy's job at three dollars a week unless I could talk. Myemployer found it out, too, and then he found somebody who could takemy place--a boy who could answer when spoken to. 

Well, here I was out of a job again. I am afraid I came pretty nearbeing discouraged about that time. Things looked pretty hopeless forme--it was mighty hard work to get a job and the place didn't last longafter I had gotten it. 

But, nevertheless, the only thing to do was to try again. I started thesearch all over again. I tried first one place and then another. Oneman wanted me to start out as a salesman. He showed me how I could makemore money than I had ever made in my life--convinced me that I couldmake it. Then I started to tell my part of the story--but I didn't getvery far before he discovered that I was a stammerer. That was enoughfor him--with a gesture of hopelessness, he turned to his desk. "You'llnever do, young man, you'll never do. You can't even talk!" And theworst of it was that he was right. 

I once thought I had landed a job as stock chaser in a factory, buthere, too, stammering barred the way, for they told me that even thestock chaser had to be able to deliver verbal messages from one foremanto another. I didn't dare to try that. 

Eventually, I drifted around to the Union News Company. They wanted aboy to sell newspapers on trams running out over the Grand TrunkRailway. I took the job--the last job in the world I should haveexpected to hold, because of all the places a newsboy's job is onewhere you need to have a voice and the ability to talk. 

I hope no stammerer ever has a position that causes him as muchhumiliation and suffering as that job caused me. You can imagine whatit meant to me to go up and down the aisles of the train, callingpapers and every few moments finding out that I couldn't say what Istarted out to say and then go gasping and grunting down the aislemaking all sorts of facial grimaces. 

How the passengers laughed at me! And how they made fun of me and askedme all sorts of questions just to hear me try to talk. It almost mademe wish I could never see a human being again, so keen was thesuffering and so tense were my nerves as a result of this work. 

I don't believe I ever did anything that kept me in a more frenziedmental state than this work of trying to sell newspapers--and it wasn'tvery long (as I had expected) until the manager found out my situationand gently let me out. 

Then I gave up, all at once. Was I discouraged? Well, perhaps. But notexactly discouraged. Rather I saw the plain hopelessness of trying toget or hold a job in my condition. So I prepared to go home. I didn'twant to do it, because I knew the neighbors and friends round aboutwould be ready for me with, "I told you so" and "I knew it couldn't bedone" and a lot of gratuitous information like that. 

But I gave up, nevertheless, deeply disappointed to think that onceagain I had failed to be cured of stammering, yet all the whileresolving just as firmly as ever that I would try again and that Iwould never give up hope as long as there remained anything for me todo. 

And this rule I followed out, month after month and year after year, until in the end I was richly rewarded for my patience and persistence. 

CHAPTER V

FURTHER FUTILE ATTEMPTS TO BE CURED

The next summer I decided to visit eastern institutions for the cure ofstammering and determine if these could do any more for me than hadalready been done-which as the reader has seen, was practicallynothing. I bought a ticket for Philadelphia, where I remained for sometime, and where I gained more information of value than in all of myprevious efforts combined. 

I found in the Quaker City an old man who had made speech defectsalmost a life study. He knew more about the true principles of speechand the underlying fundamentals in the production of voice than all ofthe rest put together. He taught me these things, and gave me a solidfoundation on which to build. True, he did not cure my stammering. Butthat was not because he failed to understand its cause, but merelybecause he had not worked out the correct method of removing the cause. 

It was this man who first brought home to me the fact that principlesof speech are constant, that they never change and that every personwho talks normally follows out the same principles of speech, whileevery person who stutters or stammers violates these principles ofspeech. That is the basis of sound procedure for the cure of stammeringand I must acknowledge my indebtedness to this sincere old gentlemanwho did so much for me in the way of knowledge, even though he did butlittle for me in the way of results. 

After leaving Philadelphia, I visited Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, New York, Boston and other eastern cities, searching for acure, but did not find it. I was benefited very little. Theseexperiences, however, all possessed a certain value, although I did notknow it at the time. They taught me the things which would not work andby a simple process of elimination I later found the things which would. 

Finally, however, having become disgusted with my eastern trip, Ibought a ticket for home and boarded the train more nearly convincedthan ever that I had an incurable case of stammering. 

Some time after trying my experiment with the eastern schools, I sawthe advertisement of a professor from Chicago saying that he would beat Fort Wayne, Indiana, (which was 40 miles from my home), for a week. 

He was there. So was I. But to my sorrow. I paid him twenty dollars forwhich he taught me a few simple breathing and vocal exercises, most ofwhich I already knew by heart, having been drilled in them time andagain. This fellow was like so many others who claimed to curestammering--he was in the business just because there were stammerersto cure, and not because he knew anything about it. He treated theeffects of the trouble and did not attempt to remove the cause. Thefact of the matter is, I doubt whether he knew anything about the cause. 

Then one Sunday while reading a Cincinnati Sunday newspaper, I ranacross an advertisement of a School of Elocution, in which was thestatement, "Stammering Positively Cured!" Whenever I saw a sign "VocalCulture" I became interested, so I clipped the advertisement, corresponded with the school and not many Sundays later, being able tosecure excursion rates to Cincinnati, I made the trip and prepared tobegin my work. 

The cost of the course was only fifty dollars and I thought I would begetting cured mighty cheap if I succeeded. So I gave this school a"whirl" with the idea of going hack home in a short time cured--to thesurprise of my family and friends. But I was doomed to disappointment. I took the twenty lessons, but went home stammering as badly as ever. You can imagine how I felt as the Big Four train whistled at the Wabashriver just before pulling into the Wabash station, where I was to getoff. 

Here was another failure that could be checked up against theinstructor who knew nothing whatever about the cause of stammering. Thewhole idea of the course was to cultivate voice and make me an orator. That was very fine and would, no doubt, have done me a great deal ofgood, but it was of no use to try to cultivate a fine voice until Icould use that voice in the normal way. The finest voice in the worldis of no use if you stammer, and cannot use it. The school of elocutionwent the same way as all the rest--it was a total failure so far ascuring my stammering was concerned. 

By this time, my effort to be cured of stammering had become a habit, just as eating and sleeping are habits. I was determined to be cured. Imade up my mind I would never give up. True, I often said to myself, "Imay never be cured, " but in the same breath I resolved that if I wasnot, it could never be said that it was because I was a "quitter. "

My next experiment was with a man who claimed he could cure mystammering in one hour. Think of it. Here I had been, spending weeksand months trying out just ONE way of cure and here was a man who coulddo the whole job IN ONE HOUR. Wonderful power he must possess, Ithought. Of course, I did not believe he could do it. I COULD notbelieve it. It was not believable. But nevertheless, in my effort to becured, I had resolved to leave no stone unturned. I made up my mindthat the only way to be sure that I was not missing the successfulmethod was to try them all. 

So I put myself under this man's hand. He was a hypnotist. He felt ableto restore speech with a hypnotic sleep and the proper hypnoticsuggestion while I was in the trance. But like all the fake fol-de-rolwith which I had come in contact, he did not even make an impression. 

I will say in behalf of this hypnotic stammer doctor, however, that hewas following distinguished precedent in attempting to cure stammeringby hypnotism. German professors in particular have been especiallyzealous in following out this line of endeavor and many of them havewritten volumes on the subject only to end up with the conclusion (intheir own minds, at least) that it is a failure. Hypnotism may be saidto be a condition where the will of the subject is entirely dormant andhis every act and thought controlled by the mind of the hypnotist. I donot know, not having been conscious at the time, but it is notimprobable that while in the hypnotic state, I was able to talk withoutstammering, since my words were directed by the mind of the professor, and not my own mind. But inasmuch as I couldn't have the professorcarried around with me through the rest of my lifetime in order to usehis mind, the treatment could not benefit me. 

I next got in touch with an honest-looking old man with a beard likeone of the prophets, who assured me with a great deal of professionaldignity, that stammering was a mere trifle for a magnetic healer likehimself and that he could cure it entirely in ten treatments. So Iplanked down the specified amount for ten treatments, and went to himregularly three times a week for almost a month, when he explained tome, again with a plenitude of professionalism, that my case was a verypeculiar one and that it would require ten more treatments. But I couldnot figure out how, if ten treatments had done me no good, ten morewould do any better. So I declined to try his methods any further. Onceagain I said to myself, "Well, this has failed, too--I wonder whatnext?"

The next happened to be electrical treatments. When I visited theelectrical treatment specialist, he explained to me in a very effectivemanner just how (according to his views) stammering was caused bycertain contractions of the muscles of the vocal organs, etc. , and toldme that his treatment surely was the thing to eliminate thiscontraction and leave my speech entirely free from stammering. I knewsomething about my stammering then, but not a great deal--consequentlyhis explanation sounded plausible to me and appealed to me as beingvery sensible and so I decided to give it a trial. I was glad after itwas over that I had received no bad effects--that was ALL the cause Ihad to be glad, for he had not changed my stammering one iota, nor hadhe changed my speech in any way to make it easier for me to talk. Thus, had I found another one of the things that will not work and chalked upanother failure against my attempts to be cured of stammering. 

By this time, the reader may well wonder why I was not discouraged inmy efforts to be cured. Well, who will say that I was not? I believe Iwas--as far as it was possible for me to be discouraged at that time. But despite all my failures, I had made up my mind never to give upuntil I was cured of stammering. I set myself doggedly to the task ofridding myself of an impediment that I knew would always hold me downand prevent any measure of success. I stayed with this task. I nevergave up. I kept this one thing always hi mind. It was a life job withme if necessary--and I was not a "quitter. " So failures anddiscouragements simply steeled me to more intense endeavors to becured. And while these endeavors cost my parents many hundreds ofdollars and cost me many years of time, still, I feel today that theywere worth while--not worth while enough to go through again, or worthwhile enough to recommend to any one else--but at least not a totalloss to me. 

CHAPTER VI

I REFUSE TO BE DISCOURAGED

After I had tried the electric treatment and found it wanting, I heardof a clairvoyant who could, by looking at a person, tell his name, age, occupation, place of residence, etc. , and could cure all diseases andafflictions including stammering. So I thought I would give him atrial. He claimed to work through a "greater power"--whatever thatwas--and so I paid him his fee to see the "greater power" work--and tobe cured of stammering, as per promise. But there was nothing doing inthe line of a cure--all I got in trying to be cured, was anotherchapter added to my book of experience. 

Following this experience, I tried an osteopath, whose methods, howevergood they might have been, affected merely the physical organs andcould not hope to reach the real cause of my trouble. I do not doubtthat this man was entirely sincere in explaining his own science to mein a way that led me to build up hopes of relief from that method. Hesimply did not understand stammering and its causes and was thereforenot prepared to treat it. 

I was told of another doctor who claimed to be able to cure stammering. When I called to see him, he had me wait in his reception room fornearly two hours, for the purpose, I presume, of giving me theimpression that he was a very busy man. Then he called me into hisprivate consultation room, where he apparently had all of the modernand up-to-date surgical instruments. He put me through a thoroughexamination, after which he said that the only thing to cure me was asurgical operation to have my tonsils removed. I was not willing toconsent to the use of the knife, so therefore the operation was neverperformed. 

Since that time, however, the practice of operating on childrenespecially for the removal of adenoids and tonsils has become verypopular and quite frequently this is the remedy prescribed for variousand sundry ailments of childhood. In no case must a parent expect toeradicate stuttering or stammering by the removal of the tonsils. Theoperation, beneficial as it may be in other ways, does not prevent thechild from stammering--for the operation does not remove the cause ofthe stammering--that cause is mental, not physical. 

CHAPTER VII

THE BENEFIT OF MANY FAILURES

I had now tried upwards of fifteen different methods for the cure of mystammering. I had tried the physician; the surgeon; the elocutionteacher; the hypnotic specialist; the osteopath; a clairvoyant; amail-order scheme; the world's greatest speech specialist--so-called, and several other things. My parents had spent hundreds of dollars ofmoney trying to have me cured. They had spared no effort, stopped at nocost. And yet I now stammered worse than I had ever stammered before. Everything I had tried had been a worthless failure. Nothing had beenof the least permanent good to me. My money was gone, months of timehad been wasted and I now began to wonder if I had not been veryfoolish indeed, in going to first one man and then another, trying tobe cured. "Wouldn't it have been better, " I asked, "if I had resignedmyself to a life as a stammerer and let it go at that?"

My father before me stammered. So did my grandfather and no less thanfourteen of my blood relations. My affliction was inherited andtherefore supposedly incurable. At least so I was told by honestphysicians and other scientific observers who believed what they saidand who had no desire to make any personal gain by trafficking in myinfirmity. These men told me frankly that their skill and knowledgeheld out no hope for me and advised me from the very beginning to savemy money and avoid the pitfalls of the many who would profess to beable to cure me. 

But I had disregarded this honest advice, sincerely given, had spent mymoney and my time--and what had I gotten? Would I not have been betteroff if I had listened to the advice and stayed at home? Everythingseemed to answer "Yes, " but down in my heart I felt that things werebetter as they were. Certainly some good must come of all thiseffort--surely it could not all be wasted. 

"But yet, " I argued with myself, "what good can come of it?" Stammeringwas fast ruining my life. It had already taken the joy out of mychildhood and had made school a task almost too heavy to be undertaken. It had marked my youth with a somber melancholy, and now that youth wasslipping away from me with no hope that the future held anything betterfor me than the past. Something had to be done. I was overpowered bythat thought--something had to be done. It had to be done at once. Ihad come to the turning point in my life. Like Hamlet, I found myselfrepeating over and over again, "To be or not to be, That is the question. "

Was I discouraged? No, I will not admit that I was discouraged, but Iwas pretty nearly resigned to a life without fluent speech, nearlyconvinced that future efforts to find a cure for stammering would befruitless and bring no better results. 

It was about this time that I stepped into the office of my cousin, then a successful lawyer and district attorney of his city, later thefirst vice-president of one of the great American railroads withheadquarters in New York, and now retired. He was one of those men inwhose vocabulary there is no such word as "fail. " After I had talkedwith him for quite a while, he looked at me, and with his kindly, almost fatherly smile asked, "Why don't you cure yourself?"

"Cure myself?" I queried. "How do you expect me, a young man with noscientific training, to cure myself, when the learned doctors, surgeonsand scientists of the country hare given me up as incurable?"

"That doesn't make any difference, " he replied, "'while there is life, there is hope' and it's a sure thing that nobody ever accomplishedanything worth while by accepting the failures of others as proof thatthe thing couldn't be done. Whitney would never have invented thecotton gin if he had accepted the failures of others as final. Columbuspicked out a road to America and assured the skeptics that there was nodanger of his sailing 'over the edge. ' Of course, it had never beendone before, but then Columbus went ahead and did it himself. He didn'ttake somebody else's failure as an indication of what he could do. Ifhe had, a couple of hundred years later, somebody else would havediscovered it and put Columbus in the class with the rest of theweak-kneed who said it couldn't BE done, just because IT NEVER HAD BEENDONE. 

"The progress of this country, Ben, " continued my cousin, "is foundedon the determination of men who refuse to accept the failures of othersas proof that things can't be done at all. Now you've got a mighty goodstart. You've found out all about these other methods--you know thatthey have failed--and in a lot of cases, you know WHY they have failed. Now, why don't you begin where they have left off and find out how tosucceed?"

The thought struck me like a bolt from a clear sky: "BEGIN WHERE THEOTHERS LEAVE OFF AND FIND OUT HOW TO SUCCEED!" I kept saying it overand over to myself, "Begin where the others leave off--begin where theothers leave off!"

This thought put high hope in my heart. It seemed to ring like a callfrom afar. "Begin where the others leave off and find out how tosucceed. " I kept thinking about that all the way home. I thought of itat the table that evening. I said nothing. I went to bed--but I didn'tgo to sleep, for singing through my brain was that sentence, "Beginwhere the others leave off and find out how to succeed!"

Right then and there I made the resolve that resulted in my curingmyself. "I WILL do it, " I said, "I will begin where the others leaveoff--and I WILL SUCCEED!!" Then and there I determined to master theprinciples of speech, to chart the methods that had been used byothers, to find their defects, to locate the cause of stammering, tofind out how to remove that cause and remove it from myself, so that I, like the others whom I so envied, could talk freely and fluently. 

That resolution--that determination which first fired me that eveningnever left me. It marked the turning point in my whole life. I was nolonger dependent upon others, no longer looking to physicians orelocution teachers or hypnotists to cure me of stammering. I waslooking to myself. If I was to be cured, then I must be the one to doit. This responsibility sobered me. It intensified my determination. Itemphasized in my own mind the need for persistent effort, for aconstant striving toward this one thing. And absorbed with this idea, living and working toward this one end, I began my work. 

CHAPTER VIII

BEGINNING WHERE OTHERS HAD LEFT OFF

From the moment that my resolution took shape, my plans were all laidwith one thing in mind--to cure myself of stammering. I determined, first of all, to master the principles of speech. I remembered verywell, indeed, the admonition of Prof. J. J. Mills, President of EarlhamCollege, on the day I left the institution. "You have been ahard-working student, " he said, "but your success will never becomplete until you learn to talk as others talk. Cure your stammeringat any cost. " That was the thing I had determined to do. And havingdetermined upon that course, I resolved to let nothing swerve me fromit. 

I began the study of anatomy. I studied the lungs, the throat, thebrain--nothing escaped me. I pursued my studies with the avidity of themedical student wrapped up in his work. I read all the books that hadbeen published on the subject of stammering. I sought eagerly fortranslations of foreign books on the subject. I lived in the libraries. I studied late at night and arose early in the morning, that I might beat my work again. It absorbed me. I thought of the subject by day anddreamed of it by night. It was never out of my mind. I was living it, breathing it, eating it. I had not thought myself capable of suchconcentration as I was putting in on the pursuit of the truth asregards stammering and its cure. 

With the knowledge that I had gained from celebrated physicians, specialists and institutions throughout this country and Europe, Iextended my experiments and investigation. I had an excellent subjecton which to experiment--myself. Progress was slow at first--so slow, infact, that I did not realize until later that it was progress at all. Nothing but my past misery, backed up by my present determination to befree from the impediment that hampered me at every turn, could havekept me from giving up. But at last, after years of effort, after longnights of study and days of research, I was rewarded by success--Ifound and perfected a method of control of the articulatory organs aswell as of the brain centers controlling the organs of speech. I hadlearned the cause of stammering and stuttering. 

All of the mystery with which the subject had been surrounded byso-called specialists, fell away. In all its clearness, I saw thetruth. I saw how the others, who had failed in my case, had failedbecause of ignorance. I saw that they had been treating effects, notcauses. I saw exactly WHY their methods had not succeeded and couldnever succeed. 

In truth I had BEGUN WHERE THE OTHERS LEFT OFF AND WON SUCCESS. Thereader can imagine what this meant to me. It meant that at last I couldspeak--clearly, distinctly, freely, and fluently, without those facialcontortions that had made me an object of ridicule wherever I went. Itmeant that I could take my place in life, a man among men; that I couldlook the whole world in the face; that I could live and enjoy life asother normal persons lived and enjoyed it. 

At first my friends could not believe that my cure was permanent. Evenmy mother doubted the evidence of her own ears. But I knew the troublewould not come back, for the old fear was gone, the nervousness soonpassed away, and a new feeling of confidence and self-reliance tookhold of me, with the result that in a few weeks I was a changed man. People who had formerly avoided me because of my infirmity began togreet me with new interest. Gradually the old affliction was forgottenby those with whom I came into daily contact and by many I was thoughtof as a man who had never stammered. Even today, those who knew me whenI stammered so badly I could hardly talk, are hardly able to believethat I am the same person who used to be known as "BEN BOGUE'S BOY WHOSTUTTERS. "

For today I can talk as freely and fluently as anybody. I do nothesitate in the least. For years, I have not even known what it is togrope mentally for a word. I speak in public as well as in privateconversation. I have no difficulty in talking over the telephone and infact do not know the difference. In my work, I lecture to students andam invited to address scientific bodies, societies and educationalgatherings, all of which I can accomplish without the slightestdifficulty. 

Today, I can say with Terence, "I am a man and nothing that is human isalien to me. " And I can go a step further and say to those who areafflicted as I was afflicted: "I have been a stammerer. I know yourtroubles, your sorrows, your discouragements. I understand with anunderstanding born of a costly experience. "

Man or woman, boy or girl, wherever you are, my heart goes out to you. Whatever your station in life, rich or poor, educated or unlettered, discouraged and hopeless, or determined and resolute, I send you amessage of hope, a message which, in the words of Dr. Russell R. Conwell, "has been affirmed and reaffirmed in the thousands of lives Ihave been privileged to watch. And the message is this: Neitherheredity nor environment nor any obstacles superimposed by man can keepyou from marching straight through to a cure, provided you are guidedby a firm driving determination and have normal health andintelligence. " To that end I commend to you the succeeding pages ofthis volume, where you will find in plain and simple language thethings which I have spent more than thirty years in learning. May thesepages open for you the door to freedom of speech--as they have openedit for hundreds before you. 

PART II

STAMMERING AND STUTTERING

The Causes, Peculiarities, Tendencies and Effects

CHAPTER I

SPEECH DISORDERS DEFINED

In the diagnosis of speech disorders, there are almost as manydifferent forms of defective utterance as there are cases, all of whichforms, however, divide themselves into a few basic types. These variousdisorders might be broadly classified into three classes:

 (1)--Those resulting from carelessness in learning to speak; (2)--Those which are of distinct mental form; and (3)--Those caused by a physical deformity in the organs of speech themselves. 

Regardless of under which of these three heads a speech disorder maycome, it is commonly spoken of by the laymen as a "speech impediment"or "a stoppage in speech" notwithstanding the fact that thecharacteristics of the various disorders are quite dissimilar. Incertain of the disorders, (a)--There is an inability to release a word; in others, (b)--A tendency to repeat a syllable several times before the following syllable can be uttered; in others, (c)--The tendency to substitute an incorrect sound for the correct one; while in others, (d)--The utterance is defective merely in the imperfect enunciation of sounds and syllables due to some organic defect, or to carelessness in learning to speak. 

While this volume has but little to do with speech disorders other thanstammering and stuttering, the characteristics of the more common formsof speech impediment--lisping, cluttering and hesitation, as well asstuttering and stammering--will be discussed in this first chapter, inorder that the reader may be able, in a general way at least, todifferentiate between the various disorders. 

LISPING

This is a very common form of speech disorder and one which manifestsitself early in the life of the child. Lisping may be divided intothree forms:

 (1)--Negligent Lisping (2)--Neurotic Lisping (3)--Organic Lisping

NEGLIGENT LISPING: This is a form of defective enunciation caused inmost cases by parental neglect or the carelessness of the child himselfin the pronunciation of words during the first few months of talking. This defective pronunciation in Negligent Lisping is caused either by aFAILURE or an INABILITY to observe others who speak correctly. We learnto speak by imitation, and failing to observe the correct method ofspeaking in others, we naturally fail to speak correctly ourselves. InNegligent Lisping, this inability properly to imitate correct speechprocesses, results in the substitution of an incorrect sound for thecorrect one with consequent faulty formation of words. 

ORGANIC LISPING: This results from an organic or physical defect in thevocal organs, such as hare-lip, feeble lip, malformation of the tongue, defective teeth, overshot or undershot jaw, high palatal arch, cleftpalate, defective palate, relaxed palate following an operation foradenoids, obstructed nasal passages or defective hearing. 

NEUROTIC LISPING: This is a form of speech marked by short, rapidmuscular contractions instead of the smooth and easy action used inproducing normal sounds. Neurotic Lisping is often found to be combinedwith stammering or stuttering, which is quite logical, since it issimilar, both as to CAUSE and as to the presence of a MENTALDISTURBANCE. In Neurotic Lisping, the muscular movements are lessspasmodic than in cases of stuttering, partaking more of the crampedsticking movement, common in stammering. 

STUTTERING

Stuttering may be generally defined as the repetition--rapid in somecases, slow in others--of a word or a syllable, before the followingword or syllable can be uttered. Stuttering may take several forms, anyone of which will fall into one of four phases:

 (1)--Simple Phase (2)--Advanced Phase (3)--Mental Phase (4)--Compound Phase

Simple stuttering can be said to be a purely physical form of thedifficulty. The Advanced Phase marks the stage of further progresswhere the trouble passes from the purely physical state into acondition that may be known as Mental-Physical. The distinctly MentalPhase is marked by symptoms indicating a mental cause for the trouble, the disorder usually having passed into this form from the simple oradvanced stages of the malady. Stuttering may be combined withstammering in which case the condition represents the Compound Phase ofthe trouble. 

CHOREATIC STUTTERING: This originates in an attack of Acute Chorea orSt. Vitus Dance, which leaves the sufferer in a condition whereinvoluntary and spasmodic muscular contractions, especially of theface, have become an established habit. This breaks up the speech in amanner somewhat similar to ordinary stuttering. Also known as "TicSpeech. "

SPASTIC SPEECH: This is often the result of infantile cerebral palsy, the characteristic symptom of the trouble being intense over-exertion, continued throughout a sentence, the syllables being equal in lengthand very laboriously enunciated. In spastic speech, there is present anoticeable hyper-tonicity of the nerve fibers actuating the musclesused in speaking as well as marked contractions of the facial muscles. 

UNCONSCIOUS STUTTERING: This is a misnomer because there can be no suchthing as unconscious stuttering. It appears that the person afflictedis not conscious of his difficulty for he insists that he does nots-s-s-s-tut-tut-tut-ter. Unconscious Stuttering is but a name for thedisorder of a stutterer who is too stubborn to admit his own difficulty. 

THOUGHT STUTTERING: This is an advanced form of stuttering which isalso known as Aphasia and which is caused by the inability of thesufferer to recall the mental images necessary to the formation of aword. Stuttering in its simpler forms is usually connected with theperiod of childhood, while aphasia is often connected with old age orinjury. The aphasic person is excessively nervous as is the stutterer;he undergoes the same anxiety to get his words out and the same fear ofbeing ridiculous. In aphasia there is, however, no excessive musculartension or cramp of the speech muscles. In these cases, the stuttererwill sometimes repeat the first syllable ten or fifteen times withpauses between, being for a time unable to recall what the secondsyllable is. It is, in other words, a habitual, but neverthelesstemporary, inability to recall to mind the mental images necessary toproduce the word or syllable desired to be spoken. This condition ismore commonly known as Thought Lapse or the inability to think of whatyou desire to say. 

One investigator shows that the diagnosis of "insanity" with latercommitment to an asylum occurred in the case of a bad stutterer. Whenexcited he would go through the most extreme contortions and thewildest gesticulations in a vain attempt to finally get all of the wordout, finally pacing up and down the room like one truly insane. Thistendency to believe that the stutterer is insane because of theconvulsive or spasmodic effort accompanying his efforts to speak, is amistaken one, although there can be little doubt of the tendency ofthis condition finally to lead to insanity if not checked. 

HESITATION

Hesitation is marked by a silent, choking effort, often accompanied bya fruitless opening and closing of the mouth. Hesitation is a stagethrough which the sufferer usually passes before he reaches thecondition known as Elementary Stammering. 

STAMMERING

Stammering is a condition in which the person afflicted is unable tobegin a word or a sentence no matter how much effort may be directedtoward the attempt to speak, or how well they may know what they wishto say. In stammering, there is the "sticking" as the stammerer termsit, or the inability to express a sound. The difference betweenstammering and stuttering lies in the fact that in stuttering, thedisorder manifests itself in loose and hurried (or in some cases, slow)repetitions of sounds, syllables or words, while in the case ofstammering, the manifestation takes the form of an inability to expressa sound, or to begin a word or a sentence. 

ELEMENTARY STAMMERING: This is the simplest form of this disorder. Here, the convulsive effort is not especially noticeable and the markedresults of long-continued stammering are not apparent. Most cases passquickly from the elementary stage unless checked in their incipiency. 

SPASMODIC STAMMERING: This marks the stage of the disorder where theeffort to speak brings about marked muscular contractions andpronounced spasmodic efforts, resulting in all sorts of facialcontortions, grimaces and uncontrolled jerkings of the head, body andlimbs. 

THOUGHT STAMMERING: This, like Thought-Stuttering, is a form of Aphasiaand manifests itself in the inability of the stammerer to think of whathe wishes to say. In other words, the thought-stammerer, like thethought-stutterer, is unable to recall the mental images necessary tothe production of a certain word or sound--and is, therefore, unable toproduce sounds correctly. The manifestations described under ThoughtStuttering are present in Thought Stammering also. 

COMBINED STAMMERING AND STUTTERING: This is a compound form ofdifficulty in which the sufferer finds himself at times not only unableto utter a sound or begin a word or a sentence but also is found torepeat a sound or syllable several times before the following syllablecan be uttered. Any case of stuttering or stammering in the Simple orElementary Stages may pass into Combined Stammering and Stutteringwithout warning or without the knowledge, even, of the stammerer orstutterer. 

CHAPTER II

THE CAUSES OF STUTTERING AND STAMMERING

One of the first questions asked by the stutterer or stammerer is, "What is the cause of my trouble?" In asking this question, thestammerer is getting at the very essence of the successful method oftreatment of his malady, for there is no method of curing stuttering, stammering and kindred defects of speech that can bring real andpermanent relief from the affliction unless it attacks the cause of thetrouble and removes that cause. 

Inasmuch as this book has to do almost entirely with the two defectiveforms of utterance known as stuttering and stammering, we will at thistime drop all reference to the other forms of speech impediments andfrom this time forth refer only to stuttering and stammering. 

These forms of defective speech are manifested by the inability toexpress words in the normal, natural manner--freely and fluently. Inother words, there is a marked departure from the normal in the methodsused by the stammerer in the production of speech. It is necessary, therefore, before taking up the discussion of the causes of stutteringand stammering, to determine the method by which voice is produced inthe normal individual, so that we can compare this normal production ofspeech with the faulty method adopted by the stutterer or stammerer andlearn where the fault is and what is the cause of it. 

Let us now proceed to do this: In other words, let us ask the question:"How is speech produced in the normal person not afflicted withdefective utterance?"

Voice is produced by the vocal organs much in the same manner as soundsare produced on a saxophone or clarinet, by forcing a current of airthrough an aperture over which is a reed which vibrates with thesounds. The low tones produced by the saxophone or clarinet result fromthe enlargement of the aperture, while the higher tones are produced bycontracting the opening. Variations of pitch in the human voice arealso effected by elongation and contraction of the vocal cords withcomparative slackness or tension, as in the violin. 

It would be of no value, and, in fact, would only serve to confuse thelayman, to know the duties or functions of the various organs or partsentering into the production of speech. Suffice it to say that in the"manufacture" of words, there are concerned the glottis, the larynx, thorax, diaphragm, lungs, soft palate, tongue, teeth and lips. In theproduction of the sounds and the combination of sounds that we callwords, each of these organs of speech has its own particular duty toperform and the failure of any one of these organs properly to performthat duty may result in defective utterance of some form. 

BRAIN CONTROL: It must be borne in mind that for any one or all of theorgans of speech to become operative or to manifest any action, theymust be innervated or activated by impulses originating in the brain. 

For instance, if it is necessary that the glottis be contracted to apoint which we will call "half-open" for the production of a certainsound, the brain must first send a message to that organ before thenecessary movement can take place. In saying the word "you, " forinstance, it would be necessary for the tongue to press tip against thebase of the lower row of front teeth. But before the tongue can assumethat position, it is necessary that the brain send to the tongue amessage directing what is to be done. 

When the number of different organs involved in the production of thesimplest word of one syllable is considered (such as the word "you"just mentioned), and when it is further considered that separate brainmessages must be sent to each of the organs, muscles or parts concernedin the production of that word, then it will be understood that theprocess of speaking is a most complicated one, involving not onlynumerous physical organs but also intricate mental processes. 

When all of the organs concerned in the production of speech areworking properly and when the brain sends prompt and correct brainimpulses to them, the result is perfect speech, the free, fluent andeasy conversation of the good talker. But when any or all of theseorgans fail to function properly, due to inco-ordination, the result isdiscord--and defective utterance. 

CAUSE OF DEFECTIVE UTTERANCE: Now, let us consider the cause ofdefective utterance. What is it that causes the organ, muscle or partsto fail properly to function? The first and most obvious conclusionwould be that there was some inherent defect in the organ, muscle orpart which failed to function. But experience has proved that this isusually not the case. An examination of two thousand cases of defectiveutterance, including many others besides stuttering and stammering, revealed three-tenths of one per cent. With an organic defect--that is, a defect in the organs themselves. In other words, only three personsout of every thousand afflicted with defective utterance were found tohave any physical shortcoming that was responsible for the affliction. 

Take any of these two thousand cases--say those that stammered, forinstance. What was the cause of their difficulty, if it did not lie inthe organs used in the production of speech? This is the question thatlong puzzled investigators in the field of speech defects. Like Darwin, they said: "It must be this, for if it is not this, then what is it?"If stuttering and stammering are not caused by actual physical defectsin the organs themselves, what then can be the cause?

DUE TO A LACK OF CO-ORDINATION: Cases of stammering and stutteringwhere no organic defect is present are due to a lack of co-ordinationbetween the brain and the muscles of speech. In other words, theharmony between the brain and the speech organs which normally resultin smooth working and perfect speech has been interrupted. The brainimpulses are no longer properly transmitted to and executed by themuscles of speech. 

This failure to transmit properly brain messages or this lack ofco-ordination may take one of two forms: it may result in anUNDER-innervation of the organs of speech, which results in loose, uncontrolled repetitions of a word, sound or syllable, or it may takethe form of an overinnervation of the vocal organ with the result thatit is so intensely contracted as to be entirely closed, causing the"sticking" or inability to pronounce even a sound, so common to thestammerer. 

Suppose that you try to say the word "tray. " Do not articulate thesounds. Merely make the initial effort to say it. What happens? Simplythis: The tip of the tongue comes in contact with the upper front teethat their base and as you progress in your attempt to say "t, " thetongue flattens itself against the roof of the mouth, moving from thetip of the tongue toward its base. If you are a stammerer, you willprobably find in endeavoring to say this word, that your vocal organsfail to respond quickly and correctly to the set of brain messageswhich should result in the proper enunciation of the word "tray. " Yourtongue clings to the roof of your mouth, your mouth remains open, yousuffer a rush of blood to the face, due to your powerful andunsuccessful effort to articulate, and the word refuses to be spoken. 

Now, in order to dissociate "lack of co-ordination, " from stammeringand to get an idea of its real nature, let us imagine an experimentwhich can be conducted by any one, whether they stammer or not. 

You see on the table before you a pencil. You want to write andconsequently you want to pick up the pencil. Therefore, your brainsends a message to your thumb and forefinger, saying, "Pick up thepencil. " Your brain does not, of course, express that command in words, but sends a brain impulse based upon the kinaesthetic or motor image ofthe muscular action necessary to accomplish that act. But for ourpurpose in this experiment, we can assume that the brain sends themessage in terms which, if interpreted in words, would be "pick up thepencil. " Suppose that when that brain message reaches your thumb andforefinger, instead of reaching for the pencil, they immediately closeand clap or stick, refusing to act. Your hand is unable to pick up thepencil. That, then, is similar to stammering. The hand is doingpractically what the vocal organs do when the stammerer attempts tospeak and fails. But, on the other hand, if, when the message wasreceived by your thumb and finger, it made short, successive attemptsto pick up the pencil, but failed to accomplish it, then you couldcompare that failure to the uncontrolled repetitions of stuttering. This inability to control the action of the thumb and forefinger wouldbe the result of a lack of co-ordination between the brain and themuscles of the hand, while stuttering or stammering is the result of alack of co-ordination between the brain and the muscles of speech. 

WHAT CAUSES LACK OF CO-ORDINATION: But even after it is known thatstuttering and stammering are caused by a lack of co-ordination betweenthe brain and the organs of speech, still, the mind of scientific andinquiring trend must ask, "What causes the lack of co-ordination?" Andthat question is quite in order. It is plain that the lack ofco-ordination does not exist without a cause. What, then, is this cause?

An inquiry into the cause of the inco-ordination between brain andspeech-organs leads us to an examination of the original or basiccauses of stammering. These original or basic causes in their variousramifications are almost as numerous as the cases of speech disordersthemselves, but they fall into a comparatively few well-defined classes. 

These original causes in many cases do not appear to have been thedirect and immediate cause of the trouble, but rather a predisposingcause or a cause which brought about a condition that later developedinto stuttering or stammering. 

Let us set down a list of the more common of these causes, not with theexpectation of having the list complete but rather of giving factsabout the representative or more common Basic Predisposing Causes ofStuttering and Stammering. 

A little more than 96 per cent. Of the causes of stammering which theauthor has examined can be traced back to one of the five causes shownbelow:

 1--Mimicry or Imitation 2--Fright or severe nerve shock 3--Fall or injury of some sort 4--Heredity 5--Disease

Let us take up these familiar causes of stuttering or stammering in theorder in which we have set them down and learn something more of them. 

The first and one of the most common causes is Mimicry, or, as it isprobably more often called, Imitation. Mimicry or Imitation is almostwholly confined to children. After reaching the age of discretion, theadult is usually of sufficient intelligence to refrain from mimickingor imitating a person who stutters or stammers. 

The average small boy, however, (or girl, for that matter) seems tofind delight in mocking and imitating a playmate who stutters orstammers, and so keen is this delight that he persists in this practiceday after day until (as its own punishment) the practice of mockery ormimicry brings upon the boy himself the affliction in which he foundhis fun. 

It may be noted, however, that Imitation is not always conscious, butoften unconscious. The small child begins to imitate the stutteringcompanion without knowing that he engages in imitation. This practice, notwithstanding the fact that it is unconscious, soon develops intostuttering, without any cause being assignable by the parent untilinvestigation develops that unconscious and even unnoticed imitation isthe basic cause of the defective utterance. 

It has been definitely determined that stuttering may be communicablethrough contagious impressions, especially among children of tender agewhose minds are subject to the slightest impressions. 

For this reason, it is not advisable for parents to allow children toplay with others who stutter or stammer, nor is it charitable to allowa child who stutters or stammers to play with other children who arenot so afflicted. 

So far-reaching are the effects of Imitation or Mimicry that in certaincases, children have been known to contract stuttering from associatingwith a deaf-mute whose expressions were made chiefly in the form ofgrunts and inarticulate sounds. 

FRIGHT OR SEVERE NERVE SHOCK: Another common cause of stammering isfright or nervous shock, which may have been brought about in countlessways. One boy who came to me some time ago stated that he had swalloweda nail when about six years of age and that this was the cause of hisstammering. The logical conclusion in a case like this would be thatthe nail had injured the vocal organs, but an examination proved thatthere was no organic defect and that the stammering was caused, not byinjury directly to the vocal organs but by the nervous shock occasionedby swallowing the nail. 

Another case was that of a stammerer who reported that he had beengiven carbolic acid, by mistake, when a child and that he had stammeredever since. This, like the case of the boy who swallowed the nail, might be expected to prove a case of absolute physical injury orimpairment of the vocal chords, but once again, it was clear that suchwas not the case and that the stammering was brought about solely fromthe nervous shock which came as a result of taking carbolic acid. 

There is still another case of a boy who felt that he was continuallybeing followed. This was of course merely a hallucination, but thefright that this boy's state of mind brought on soon caused him tostutter and stammer in a very pronounced manner. 

Fright is a prolific cause of stuttering in small children and may betraced in a great many cases to parents or nurses who persist intelling children stories of a frightful nature, or who, as a means ofdiscipline, scare them by locking them up in the cellar, the closet orthe garret. To these scare-tales told to children should be added themisguided practice of telling children that "the bogey-man will getyou" or "the policeman is after you" or some such tale to enforceparental commands. An instance is recalled of a woman who created outof a morbid imagination a phantom of terrible mien, who abode in thegarret and was constantly lying in wait for the small children of thehousehold with the professed intention of "eating them alive. "

Such disciplinary methods of parents savor much of the Inquisition andthe Dark Ages and should, for the good of the children and the futuregeneration they represent, be totally abolished. While these methods donot, in every case, result in stuttering or stammering, they make thechild of a nervous disposition and lay him liable in later years to theafflictions which accompany nervous disorders. In some cases "tickling"a child has caused stammering or stuttering. Care should be exercisedhere as well, for prolonged tickling brings about intense muscularcontraction especially of the diaphragmatic muscles, which contractionis accompanied by an agitated mental condition as well as extremenervousness, all of which approaches very closely to the combination ofabnormal conditions which are found to be present in stammering orstuttering. 

FALL OR INJURY AS A CAUSE: Step into any gathering of average Americanparents for a half-hour and if the subject of the children should comeup, you are sure to hear one or more dramatic recitals of the falls andinjuries suffered by the junior members of the household, from thefirst time that Johnny fell out of bed and frightened his mother nearlyto death, to the day that he was in an automobile crash at the age of23. And these tales are always closed with the profound bit of confidedinformation that these falls are of no consequence--"nothing ever comesof them. "

While in a great measure this is true, there are many falls andinjuries suffered in childhood which are responsible for the ills oflater life, although it is seldom indeed that they are blamed for theresults which they bring about. 

Injuries and falls are a frequent cause of stuttering and stammering. Usually, however, an injury results in stuttering or stammering, notbecause of any change in the physical structure brought about by theinjury but rather by the nervous shock attending it. In other words, cases of stammering and stuttering caused apparently by injury might, if desired, be traced still further back, showing as the initial causean injury but as a direct cause the fright or nervous shock resultingfrom that injury. 

A good example of this is found in a case of a young man who came to mesome years ago. He said: "When I was about five years old, my brotherand I were playing in the cellar and I wanted to jump off the top step. When I jumped, I hit my head on the cross-piece and it knocked me backon the steps and I slid down on my back, and ever since, for ten years, I have stammered. "

Here is a case where the blow on the head, or the succession of blowson the spinal column as the boy slid down the stairs, might have beenthe cause of the trouble. More probably, it was the combined injury, undoubtedly resulting in a severe nervous shock from which the boyprobably did not recover for many days. 

Another man said, in describing his case during an examination: "At theage of 16, I was hit on the head with a ball. I lost my memory for oneweek and when I regained it, I was a stammerer. " This is a plain caseof injury resulting in immediate stammering. 

Still another case is that of a boy who, at the age of three, was shotin the neck by a rifle, the bullet coming out of his chin, whichresulted in his becoming an immediate stammerer. Here, as in the caseof the boy who swallowed the nail, it might be expected that the causewas a defect in the organs of speech, but I found stammering wasbrought on by the nervous shock. 

From these few cases of actual occurrences, it will be seen thatpractically all cases of stammering caused by injury can be traced tothe NERVOUS SHOCK brought about by the injury. 

HEREDITY AS A CAUSE: There is little that need be said on the subjectof heredity as a cause of stuttering and stammering, save that heredityis a common cause and that children of stuttering or stammering parentsusually stammer. In this, as in the case of any malady hereditarilytransmitted, it is difficult to say whether the trouble is caused byinheritance or by constant and intimate association of the child withhis parents during the period of early speech development. 

THE RESULT OF DISEASE: Many cases of both stammering and stuttering maybe traced back to disease as the basic or predisposing cause. AcuteChorea (St. Vitus Dance) is frequently the cause of stuttering of atype known as Choreatic Stuttering or "Tic Speech. " Infantile CerebralPalsy sometimes brings about a condition known as "Spastic Speech, "while whooping cough, scarlet fever, measles, meningitis, infantileparalysis, scrofula and rickets are sometimes responsible for thedisorder. 

Disease may cause stuttering or stammering as an immediate after effector the speech trouble may not show up for considerable time, dependingaltogether upon the individual. But regardless of the length of timeelapsing between the disease which predisposes the individual to thespeech disorder and the time of the first evidence of its presence, diagnosis reveals but an insignificant percentage of organic defects inthese cases resulting from disease, indicating that even here thepredominant causative factor is a mental one. 

CHAPTER III

THE PECULIARITIES OF STUTTERING AND STAMMERING

Each individual case of stuttering or stammering has its ownpeculiarities, already more or less developed--arising from structuraldifferences (but not necessarily defects) in the organs of speech, aswell as differences in temperament, health and nervousness; orpeculiarities arising from habit--which is the result of previoustraining or neglect, as the case may be. 

SING WITHOUT DIFFICULTY: Almost without exception, the stutterer orstammerer can sing without any difficulty, can talk to animals withoutstuttering or stammering, can talk when alone and in some cases cantalk perfectly in a whisper. Some stammerers have less difficulty intalking to strangers than in talking to friends or relatives while inother cases, the condition is exactly reversed. A stutterer orstammerer almost always experiences difficulty in speaking over thetelephone. One experimenter has shown, however, that a stammerer cantalk perfectly over the telephone so long as the receiver hook isdepressed and there is no connection with another person at the otherend of the line. This experimenter shows that immediately the receiverhook is released and a connection is established, the halting, stumbling utterance begins. 

These peculiarities of stuttering and stammering for many years puzzledinvestigators and were, in fact, finally responsible for arriving atthe true cause of stammering. 

Almost every stammerer seeks for an explanation of these peculiarmanifestations. Why is it, for instance, that a stammerer can singwithout difficulty, although he cannot talk? This is one of the bestevidences that could be produced to show that stammering is the resultof a lack of mental control. The stammerer who can sing withoutdifficulty has no organic or inherent defect in the vocal organs, thatis sure. If the stammerer can sing, and if this proves that he has noorganic defect, then it follows logically that the cause of his troubleis mental and not physical. 

TALK WHEN ALONE: The fact that a stammerer can talk without hesitationwhen alone and that he can talk to animals may be explained by a verysimple illustration--any stammerer can try this experiment on one ofhis friends who does not stammer. He can prove that the reflex, or whatmight be termed subconscious movements of the bodily organs are morenearly normal than the same movements consciously controlled. Take, forinstance, the regular beating of the pulse. Let anyone who does notstammer (it makes no difference in trying this experiment whether theperson stammers or not, save that we are trying to prove that thecondition may be brought about in one who is not a stammerer) feel hisown pulse for sixty seconds. Let him be thoroughly conscious of thiseffort to learn the rapidity of its beating. If a disinterestedobserver could record the pulse as normally beating and the pulse underthe conscious influence of the mind, it would be found that the pulseunder the conscious effort is beating either more rapidly or moreslowly or that it is not beating as regularly as in the case ofunconscious or reflex action. 

This same condition may be noticed in another unconscious or reflexaction--breathing. The moment you become conscious of an attempt tobreathe regularly, breathing becomes difficult, restricted, irregular, whereas this same action, when unconscious, is thoroughly regular andeven. 

In the average or normal person who has learned to talk correctly, speaking should be practically an unconscious process. It should not benecessary to make a conscious effort to form words, nor should a normalindividual be conscious of the energy necessary to create a word or themuscular movements necessary to its formation and expression. 

This will explain why the stutterer or stammerer can talk withoutdifficulty to animals or when alone--there is no self-consciousness--noconscious effort--no thinking of what is being done. 

Another of the peculiarities of stammering is that the stammerer inmany cases seems to be able to talk perfectly in concert. This has longbaffled the investigator in this field, no reason being assignable forthis ability to talk in connection with others. The baffling elementhas been this--that the investigator has assumed that the stammerertalked well in concert, whereas a very careful scientist would havediscovered the stammerer to be a fraction of a second or a part of asyllable behind the others. 

You have doubtless been in church at some time when you were notentirely familiar with the hymn being sung, yet by lagging a note ortwo behind the rest, you could sing the song, to all appearances beingright along with the others. 

When you talk over the long-distance telephone, the voice seemsinstantly to reach the party at the other end of the line, yet we knowthat a period of time has had to elapse to allow the voice waves tomove along the telephone wire and reach the other end. The elapse oftime has been too slight to be noted by the average human mind and thetransmission seems instantaneous. This is what happens in the case ofthe stammerer who seems able to talk in concert--he is merely asyllable or part of a syllable behind the rest, all the while givingthe impression nevertheless, that he is talking just as they are. 

There are many other individual peculiarities which can be described byalmost every stammerer. These different peculiarities are more numerousthan the cases of stammering and it would be useless to attempt todiscuss them in detail. I will take up only two as being typical ofdozens which have come under my observation in twenty-eight years'experience. 

One stammerer explains his difficulty as follows: "I find I am unableto talk and do something else at the same time. For instance, I havedifficulty in talking while dancing, while at the table or whilelistening to music. If, for instance, I wish to talk to any one whilethe Victrola is being played, I unconsciously cut it off. " This is acase where the stammerer finds that all of his faculties must beconcentrated upon a supreme effort to speak before this becomespossible. In other words, he has not yet learned to controlsufficiently the different parts of his body so that they may actindependently. This might be termed a lack of independent co-ordination. 

In the case of another young man, he found himself unable to controlthe movements of his muscles. In describing his trouble, he said: "Atone time, when I was talking particularly bad, I was out with someother fellows driving our car. I started to talk, found it almostimpossible and noticed a sharp twitching of the muscles of face, armsand limbs. Try as I might, I found I could not control these movementsand in another minute I had steered the car into the ditch and wreckedit. And now, " adds the young man, "although father has a new car, I amnever allowed to drive it!"

Here was a case where the spasmodic action of the muscles had gotten sofar beyond control as to make the ordinary pursuits of life dangerousto the young man who stammered. These spasmodic movements were alwayspresent--he told of one occasion when he was in a barber's chair beingshaved. He attempted to say a word or two while the barber was at workupon him, with the result that he lost control of the muscles of faceand neck, causing the barber to cut a long gash in his neck. 

This was, of course, an abnormal case of spasmodic stammering, evidencing extraordinary muscular contractions of the worst type. Inpractically every case of stammering some such peculiarity is evident, resulting from the inability of the stammerer's brain to controlphysical actions. 

CHAPTER IV

THE INTERMITTENT TENDENCY

Paradoxical as the statement may seem, it is nevertheless true that oneof the symptoms of least seeming importance marks one of the mostdangerous aspects of both stuttering and stammering. 

This is the alternating good-and-bad condition known as theIntermittent Tendency or the tendency of the stutterer or stammerer toshow marked improvement at times. 

This seeming improvement brings about a feeling of relief, theunreasoning fear of failure seems for the time to have left almostentirely; the mental strain under which the sufferer ordinarily laborsseems to be no longer present; there is but little worry about eitherpresent condition or future prospects; the nervous condition seems tohave very materially improved, self-confidence returns quickly and withit the hope that the trouble is gone forever or is at least rapidlydisappearing. With these manifestations of improvement come also agreater ease in concentration, a greater and more facile power-of-willand an ambition that shows signs of rekindling, with worth-whileaccomplishments in prospect. 

Hope now burns high in the breast of the stutterer or stammerer. Theygo about smiling inwardly if not outwardly, happy as the proud fatherof a new boy, at peace with the world. The sun shines brighter than ithas for months or years. Every one seems much more pleasant andagreeable. Things which the day before seemed totally impossible seemnow to come within their range of accomplishment. Such is the feelingof the confirmed stutterer or stammerer during the time of thispseudo-freedom from his speech disorder. 

In his own mind, the sufferer is quite sure that his malady hasdisappeared over-night, like a bad dream and that freedom of speech hasbeen bestowed upon him as a gift from the gods on high. 

The higher the hopes of the sufferer and the greater the assurance withwhich he pursues the activities of his day, the greater is hisdisappointment and despair when the inevitable relapse overtakes him. 

For disappointment and despair are sure to come--just as sure as thesun is to rise in the heavens in the morning. The condition of reliefis but temporary, and will soon pass away to be followed by a return ofhis old trouble in a form more aggravated than ever before. 

Fate seems to play with the stammerer's affliction as a cat plays witha mouse, allowing him to be free for a few hours, a few days or a fewweeks as the case may be, only to drag the dejected sufferer back tohis former condition--or, as is true in many cases, worse than before. 

THE RECURRENCE: With the return of the trouble, the bodily and mentalreaction are almost too great for the human mechanism to withstand. Hope seems to be a word which has been lost from the life of thestammerer. The fear of failure returns with an overwhelming forcemocking the sufferer with the thought of "Oh, how I deceived you!!";the mental strain is exceedingly great--so great, in fact, that itseems as if the breaking point has almost been reached. The nervouscondition is alarming, the sufferer noting in himself an inability towork, to play, to study or even to sit still. An observer would notethe stammerer or stutterer in this condition fingering his coat lapels, putting his hands in his pockets and removing them again, biting hisfinger nails, constantly shifting eyes, head, arms and feet about. Ifat home, the sufferer in this condition would probably be seen walkingabout the house, unable to read, to play or listen to music or tofollow any of the accustomed activities of his life. If in business orin the shop, he would be noticed making frequent trips to the washroom, to the drinking fountain, to the foreman, picking up and layingdown his tools, looking out the window, shifting from one foot toanother, all of which symptoms indicate an acute nervous condition, brought about by the return of his trouble. 

At this stage, the stammerer's confidence is hopelessly gone, so itseems, and this feeling is accompanied by one of depression which findsan outlet in the expression of the firm belief and conviction on thepart of the stutterer or stammerer that the disorder can NEVER becured, by any method, although just the day before the same suffererwould have insisted that his stuttering or stammering had CURED ITSELFand left of its own accord. 

These conditions, both at the time of the so-called improvement and atthe time of the recurrence of the trouble, will appear in greater orless degree in the case of every stutterer or stammerer whose troubleis of the intermittent type. 

THE DANGERS OF THIS TENDENCY: This period of recurrence is accompaniedby almost total loss of the power-of-will, a marked weakening in theability to concentrate, and if it does not result in insomnia(inability to sleep) puts the mind in such a state as to make sleep oflittle value in building up the body, replacing worn-out tissue cellsand restoring vital energy. 

The chief danger, however, resulting from these periods of temporaryimprovement, is the belief that it instills into the mind of thesufferer and more frequently into the minds of the parents ofstuttering or stammering children, that the trouble will cure itself--afallacy greater than which there is none. 

Stuttering and stammering are destructive maladies. They tear down bothbody and mind but they have not the slightest power to build up. Anduntil a strong mental and physical structure has been built up in placeof the weakened structure (which results in stammering and stuttering)a cure is out of the question. 

CHAPTER V

THE PROGRESSIVE TENDENCY

The spell of intense recurrence of either stammering or stutteringwhich follows a period of improvement, often marks the period oftransition from one stage of the disorder into the next and moreserious stage. This transition, however, may not be a consciousprocess--that is, the sufferer may not in any way be informed of thefact that he is passing into a more serious stage of his trouble savethat after the transition has taken place, he may find himself achronic or constant stammerer and in a nervous and mental conditionmuch more acute than ever before. 

Dr. Alexander Melville Bell (father of Alexander Graham Bell, inventorof the telephone), who, before his death, was a speech expert ofunquestioned repute, discovered this condition many years ago and inhis work PRINCIPLES OF SPEECH speaks of it as follows (page 234):

"Often the transition from simple to more complicated forms ofdifficulty is so rapid, that it cannot be traced or anticipated. Perhaps some slight ailment may imperceptibly introduce the higherimpediment or some evil example may draw the ill-mastered utterance atonce into the vortex of the difficulty. "

This Progressive Tendency, which we shall hereafter call theProgressive Character of the trouble in order to distinguish it fromthe Intermittent Tendency, is present in more than 98 per cent, of thecases of stammering and stuttering which I have examined and diagnosed. 

True, there are many cases, the apparent or manifest tendencies ofwhich do not indicate that the disorder is becoming more serious, butnevertheless this condition is no indication that the trouble is notbusily at work tearing out the foundation of mental and bodilyperfection. 

SUCCESSIVE STAGES: Stuttering may be conveniently divided into fourstages, by which its progress may be measured. These may be designatedin their order as:

 1--Simple Phase 2--Advanced Phase 3--Mental Phase 4--Compound Phase

The progress of the disorder is sure. Take the case of a child eightyears of age who has a case of simple stuttering. Permit the child togo without attention for some time and the trouble will have progressedinto the Advanced Phase, usually without the knowledge of the child orhis parents or without any especially noticeable surface change in hiscondition. 

Stuttering in its first phase--Simple Stuttering--can justly be calleda physical and not a mental trouble. In this stage, the disorder shouldbe easily eradicated. The duration of cases of Simple Stuttering isvery slight, for the reason that Simple Stuttering soon passes into theAdvanced Phase, which is of a physical-mental nature, exhibiting thesymptoms of a mental disturbance as well as of a physical difficulty. 

From the Advanced Phase stuttering then passes into the Mental Phase, where the mental strain is found to be greatly intensified and thedisorder a distinct mental type instead of a physical orphysical-mental trouble. 

When stuttering in this stage is permitted to continue its hold uponthe sufferer, the continued strain, worry and fear bring about acondition of extraordinary malignancy, in which the trouble developsinto the Chronic Mental Stage. This is a condition bordering uponmental breakdown and even though the complete breakdown never occurs, the one afflicted finds himself a chronic stutterer, without surceasefrom his trouble. He further finds that he has increasing difficulty inthinking of the things which he wishes to say. He seems to know, buthis mind refuses to frame the thought. In other words, he is unable torecall the mental image of the word in mind, and is therefore unable tospeak the word. This is a condition known as Aphasia or Thought Lapseand represents a most serious stage of the difficulty, in many casestotally beyond the possibility of relief--a condition in which nostutterer should allow himself to get. 

Stammering, being a kindred condition to stuttering, progresses frombad to worse in a manner very similar. The progress of stammering maybe classified into successive stages as follows:

 1--Elementary Stage 2--Spasmodic Stage 3--Primary Mental Stage 4--Chronic Mental Stage 5--Compound Stage

Stammering in the Elementary Stage, like Stuttering, is a PhysicalTrouble. The Stammerer has often been known to remain in the ElementaryStage only a few days or a few weeks, passing almost immediately intoeither the Spasmodic or the Primary Mental Stage. Not all stammererspass into the Spasmodic Stage of the disorder, however, some passingdirectly into Primary Mental Stage. 

The Spasmodic Stage, however, is a form of difficulty somewhat akin tothe Advanced Phase of Stuttering, for in this stage the trouble can besaid to be of Physical-Mental nature instead of the purely physicaldisorder found in Elementary Stammering. 

Stammering, in the Primary Mental Stage, takes on a distinct Mentalform as differentiated from the Mental-Physical form and becomestherefore more difficult to eradicate. If allowed to continue, thisform of Stammering (like Stuttering) passes into the Chronic MentalStage, in which case the Stammerer usually exhibits pronounced signs ofThought Lapse and finds himself a Chronic or Constant Stammerer, oftenunable to utter a sound-and further at times unable to THINK of what hewishes to say. 

The progress of both Stuttering and Stammering from one stage toanother is very certain. These speech disorders do not differmaterially from other human afflictions in this respect--they do notremain constant. There is an axiom in Nature, that "Nothing is static, "which, being interpreted, means, that nothing stands still. And thisapplies with full force to the stutterer or stammerer. If no steps aretaken to remedy the malady, he may be very sure that the disorder isgetting worse--not standing still or remaining the same. 

CHAPTER VI

CAN STAMMERING AND STUTTERING BE OUTGROWN?

Probably the most harmful and oft-repeated bit of advice ever given toa stammerer or stutterer is that which says, "Oh, don't bother aboutit--you will soon outgrow the trouble!" It is the most harmful becauseit is palpably untrue. It is so oft-repeated because the person givingthe advice knows nothing whatever about the cause of stammering andjust as little about its progress or treatment. 

The fact that we hear of no cases of stuttering or stammering whichhave been outgrown does not seem to alter the popular and totallyunfounded belief that stammering and stuttering can be readily outgrown. 

If the reader has not read the chapter on the causes of stuttering andstammering and the two preceding chapters on the Intermittent Tendencyand the Progressive Character of these speech disorders, then thesechapters should be read carefully before going further with this one, because it is essential to know the cause of the trouble before it ispossible to answer intelligently the question, "Can Stammering beOutgrown?"

To any one who understands the nature of the difficulty and theprogress it is liable to make, the question is almost as absurd asasking whether or not the desire to sleep can be outgrown by stayingawake. But aside from its scientific aspect--aside from the absurdityof the question--let us examine the facts as revealed by actual recordsof cases. Let us dispense with all theory on the subject and takeexperience gained in a wide range of cases as the correct guide infinding the answer. 

FACTS FROM STATISTICS: An examination of the records of severalthousand cases of stuttering and stammering of all types and in allstages of development reveals the fact that after passing the age ofsix, only one-fifth of one per cent, ever outgrow stammering. Thismeans that out of every five hundred people who stammer, only one everoutgrows it. Between the ages of three and six, the indications aremore favorable, the records in these cases showing that slightly lessthan one per cent, outgrow the difficulty. That means that one out ofevery hundred children affected has a chance, at least, of outgrowingthe difficulty between the ages of three and six, and after that time, only one chance in five hundred. 

Suppose you were handed a rifle, given five hundred cartridges and toldto hit a bull's eye at a hundred yards, 499 times out of 500. Supposeyou were told that if you missed once you would have to suffer the restof your life as a stammerer. 

Would you take the offer? Certainly not!!!

And yet that is exactly the opportunity that a stammerer over six yearsof age has to outgrow his trouble. 

Dr. Leonard Keene Hirschberg, the medical writer, whose suggestionsappear daily in a large list of newspapers, has this to say about thepossibility of outgrowing stammering:

"Often when the attention of careless and reckless fatalistic relativesis attracted to a child's stammering, they labor under the mistakenillusion that the child 'will outgrow it. ' A more harmful doctrine hasnever been perpetuated than the one contained in that stock phrase. Asa matter of experience, speech troubles are not 'outgrown. ' They become'ingrown. ' If not corrected at first they go from bad to worse. Sofirmly rooted and ingrained into the child's habits does stutteringbecome that with every hour's growth the chance for a cure becomesfarther and farther removed. "

This statement from Dr. Hirschberg is a straight-forward, practical andcommon-sense view of the subject. 

The belief that the child will outgrow the malady often springs out ofthe tendency of the stammerer to be better and worse by turns, acondition which is fully described and explained in the chapter on theIntermittent Tendency. There is always present in any case ofstammering the opportunity for a cessation of the trouble for a shortperiod of time. The visible condition is changeable and it is thisparticular aspect of the disorder that renders it deceptive anddangerous, for many, who find themselves talking fairly well for ashort period, believe that they are on the road to relief, whereas theyare simply in a position where their trouble is about to return uponthem in greater force than ever. 

From the nature of the impediment--lack of co-ordination between thebrain and the organs of speech--stammering cannot be outgrown--no moreso than the desire to eat or to talk or to sleep. 

Back of that statement, there is a very sound scientific reason thatexplains why stammering cannot be outgrown. Stammering is destructive. It tears down but cannot build up. Every time the stammerer attempts tospeak and fails, the failure tears out a certain amount of hispower-of-will. And since it is impossible for him to speak fluentlyexcept on rare occasions, this loss of will-power and confidence takesplace every time he attempts to speak, so that with each successivefailure, his power to speak correctly becomes steadily lessened. Thecase of a stammerer might be compared to a road in which a deep rut hasbeen worn. Each time a wagon passes through this rut, it becomesdeeper. The stammerer has no more chance of outgrowing his trouble thanthe road has of outgrowing the rut. 

Dr. Alexander Melville Bell recognizes the absolute certainty of theprogress of stammering and the impossibility of outgrowing thedifficulty, when he states in his work, PRINCIPLES OF SPEECH (page 234):

"If the stammerer or stutterer were brought under treatment before thespasmodic habit became established, his cure would be much easier thanafter the malady has become rooted in his muscular and nervous system. "

To the stammerer or stutterer or the parents of a stammering child, experience brings no truer lesson than this: Stammering cannot beoutgrown; danger lurks behind delay. 

CHAPTER VII

THE EFFECT ON THE MIND

It is hardly necessary to describe to the stammerer who has passedbeyond the first stage of his trouble the effect of stammering on themind. Most any sufferer in the second or third stages of the malady hasexperienced for very brief periods the sensation of thoughts slippingaway from him and of pursuing or attempting to pursue those thoughtsfor some seconds without success, finally to find them returning like aflash. 

The stammerer who recalls such an incident will remember the feelingsof lassitude or momentary physical exhaustion, as well as the feelingof weakness which followed the lapse-of-thought. This mental flurry isbut an indication of a mental condition known as Thought-Lapse, whichmay result from long-continued stammering, especially a case which hasbeen allowed to progress into the Chronic or Advanced Stage. 

A CASE OF APHASIA: One writer, in citing instances of thought-lapse, oraphasia, tells of the case of a man unable to recall the name of anyobject until it was repeated for him. A knife, for instance, placed onthe table before him, brought no mental image of the word representingthe object, yet if the word "knife" were spoken for him, he wouldimmediately say, "Oh, yes, it is a knife. "

A chapter could be filled with instances of this sort, but I shall notattempt to quote further any of the symptoms of aphasia in a stammerer, for in cases that become so far advanced, there is considerablequestion as to the possibility of bringing about a cure. I say this, notwithstanding the fact that my experience with students having thistendency has been very satisfactory indeed. 

Cases of unreasoning despondency, which result in the stammerer'sdesire to take his own life, are so numerous as hardly to requirecomment. Very frequently you see in some of the large metropolitanpapers an account of a suicide resulting from a nervous and mentalcondition brought on by stuttering and stammering. This condition seemsto be very marked in the cases of stammerers between the ages of twelveand twenty, records showing that most of the suicides of stammerers arepersons between those ages. 

The intense mental strain, the extreme nervous condition, the continualworry and fear cannot fail, sooner or later, to have its effect uponthe mind. This is clear to any stammerer, who is familiar with themental condition brought about by the first few hours of one of hisperiods of recurrence. Another case where the mental strain isextremely great is that of the synonym stammerer--the mentally alertindividual who, in order to prevent the outward appearance ofstammering, is continually searching for synonyms or less difficultwords to take the place of those which he cannot speak. This continualsearching for synonyms results in a nervous tension that is sure totell on the mental faculties sooner or later, and I have found, inexamining many thousands of cases, that the synonym stammerer isusually in a more highly nervous state than any other type. 

MENTAL STRAIN EVENTUALLY TELLS: The effect of stuttering or stammeringon the sufferer's concentration is very marked. The sufferer notes aninability to concentrate his mind on any subject for any length oftime, finds it impossible to pursue an education with any degree ofsuccess or to follow any business which requires close attention andcareful work. 

The power-of-will is also affected and the stammerer notes an inabilityto put through the things which he starts and which require theexercise of will power to bring to a successful conclusion. 

A diagnosis of insanity is sometimes made in the case of a stammerer inthe advanced stages of his malady, while in other instances the mentalaberration takes the form of a hallucination of some sort, as in thecase of the boy who was of the belief that he was continually beingfollowed. 

But regardless of what form is taken by the mental disorder resultingfrom stammering, such cases are almost invariably found to have longsince passed into the incurable stage, although positive statements asto the individual's condition should not be made, as a rule, without athorough diagnosis having first been made. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE EFFECTS ON THE BODY

The effect of stammering or stuttering upon the physical structure isproblematical. In some cases examined, a noticeable lack of vitalityhas been found, together with an almost total loss of active appetite, a marked inclination toward insomnia and a generally debilitatedcondition resulting from the nervous strain and continued fear broughton by the speech disorder. 

In other cases, it has been found that the health was but littleaffected and that there was no marked departure from normal. 

The physical condition of the stammerer is the result of many factors. If plenty of fresh air and exercise is supplied, and the mind iswell-employed so that the worry over the trouble does not disturb thestammerer, then the chances for being in a normal physical conditionare good. 

On the other hand, the boy of studious disposition, who is somewhat ofa bookworm, keeps close to the house and does not play with otherchildren of his age, will probably find time for much introspection, and on this account, as well as on account of the lack of fresh air andexercise, will probably be in a physical condition that of itselfdemands careful attention. 

It has been found in examinations of stammerers and stutterers, however, that they are usually of below normal chest expansion and thatthe health, while not particularly bad, is subject to a greatimprovement as a result of the proper treatment for stammering. 

Charles Kingsley, the noted English divine and writer, and himself astammerer many years ago, has the following to say regarding the effectof stammering on the body: "Continual depression of spirit wears outbody as well as mind. The lungs never act rightly, never oxygenate theblood sufficiently. The vital energy continually directed to the organsof speech and there used up in the miserable spasm of mis-articulationcannot feed the rest of the body; and the man too often becomes thin, pale, flaccid, with contracted chest, loose ribs and bad digestion. Ihave seen a boy of twelve stunted, thin as a ghost and with every signof approaching consumption. I have seen that boy a few months afterbeing cured, upright, ruddy, stout, eating heartily and beginning togrow faster than he had ever grown in his life. I never knew a singlecase in which the health did not begin to improve then and there. "

CHAPTER IX

DEFECTIVE SPEECH IN CHILDREN

(1) THE PRE-SPEAKING PERIOD

From the standpoint of speech development, the life of any personbetween the time of birth and the age of twenty-one years, may bedivided into four periods as follows:

 From Birth to Age 2--PRE-SPEAKING PERIOD. Age 2 to Age 6--FORMATIVE-SETTING PERIOD Age 6 to Age 11--SPEECH-SETTING PERIOD Age 11 to Age 20--ADOLESCENT PERIOD

This chapter will deal only with the first period of the child'sspeech-development, beginning with birth and taking the child up to hissecond year. The speech disorders of the later periods will be taken upin the three following chapters. 

THE PRE-SPEAKING PERIOD: This is the period between the time of birthand the age of 2, and takes the child up to the time of the firstspoken word. This does not mean, of course, that no child speaks beforethe age of 2, for many children have made their first trials atspeaking at as early an age as 15 months, and many begin to talk by thetime they are a year and a half old. At the age of two, however, notonly the precocious child but the child of slower-than-averagedevelopment should be able to talk in at least brief, disjointedmonosyllables. 

Before taking up the possibility of a child exhibiting symptoms ofdefective speech with the first utterance, let us familiarize ourselveswith the fundamentals underlying the production of the first spokenwords. 

The mother, who for months, perhaps, has been listening with eagerinterest and fond anticipation for her child's first word to be spoken, has little comprehension of the vast amount of education and trainingwhich the infant has absorbed in order to perfect this first smallutterance. Months have been spent in listening to others, in taking insounds and recalling them, in impressing them upon the memory byconstant repetition, until finally after a year and a half, or more, perhaps, the circuit is completed and the first word is put down ashistory. 

ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS: It must be remembered that perfect co-ordinationof speech is the result of many mental images, not of one. In sayingthe word "salt, " for instance, you have a graphic mental picture ofwhat salt looks like; a second picture of what the word sounds like; a"motor-memory" picture of the successive muscle movements necessary tothe formation of the word; another picture that recalls the taste ofsalt, and still another that recalls the movements of the handnecessary to write the word. 

These pictures all hinging upon the word "salt" were gradually acquiredfrom the time you began to observe. You tasted salt. You saw it at thesame time you tasted it. There you see was an association of two ideas. Thereafter, when you saw salt, you not only recognized it by sight, butyour brain recalled the taste of salt, without the necessity of yourreally tasting it. Or, on the other hand, if you had shut your eyes andsomeone had put salt on your tongue, the taste in that case would haverecalled to your mind the graphic picture of the appearance of salt. 

As you grew older and learned to speak, your vocal organs imitated thesound of the word "salt" as you heard it expressed by others and thusyou learned to speak that word. At that stage, your brain was capableof calling up three mental pictures--an auditory picture, or a pictureof the sound of the word; a graphic or visual picture, or a picture ofthe appearance of salt and a third, which we have called a motor-memorypicture, which represents the muscular movements necessary to speak theword. A little later on, after you had gone to school and learned towrite, you added to these pictures a fourth, the movements of the handnecessary to write the word "salt. "

At the sight of the mother, a child may, for instance, be heard to saythe word "Mom" while at the sight of the pet dog whose name is "Dot, "be heard to say "Dot" in his childish way. 

Here we have the first example in this child of the association ofideas. The child has heard, repeatedly, the word "Mama" used inconjunction with the appearance of the smiling face of his mother. Thushas the child acquired the habit of associating the word "Mama" withthat face--and the sight of the countenance after a time recalls thesound of the associated word. Thus a visual image of the mothertransmitted to the child through the medium of the eye, links up atrain of thought that finally results in the child's attempt to say"Mama. "

To take another example of the association of ideas or theco-ordination of mental images necessary to the production of speech, let us suppose, for instance, that the child has been in the habit ofpetting the dog and hearing him called by name "Dot" at the same time. Now, if the dog be placed out of the child's sight and yet in aposition where the hand of the child can reach and pet him in afamiliar way, this sense of touch, like the sense of sight, will set upa train of thought that results in the child making his childishattempt to speak the name of the dog "Dot. "

In other words the excitation of any sensory organs sets up a series ofsensory impulses which are transmitted along the sensory nerve fibresto the brain, where they are referred to the cerebellum or filing case, locating a set of associated impulses which travel outward from themotor area of the brain and result in the actions, or series ofactions, which are necessary to produce a word. 

It will make the action of the brain clearer if the reader willremember the sensory nerve fibres as those carrying messages only TOthe brain, while the motor nerve fibres carry messages only FROM thebrain. 

To make still clearer this association of ideas so necessary to theproduction of speech, suppose this same child hears the word "Dot"spoken in his presence. He will, in all probability, begin to repeatthe word, and to search diligently for his pet dog. Thus it will beseen that in this case the sound of the dog's name has stirred up atrain of mental images, one of these being a visual image of the doghimself, causing the child to look about in search for him. 

HOW WE LEARN TO TALK: We learn to talk, therefore, purely byobservation and imitation. Observation is here used in a broad senseand means not only SEEING but SENSING, such as sensing by smelling, touching or tasting. The child imitates the sounds he hears and ifthese sounds emanate from those afflicted with defective utterance, then it follows that the initial utterance of the child will belikewise defective. 

SOURCE OF THE FIRST WORD: The first spoken word of the child usuallyfinds its source in some name or word repeatedly spoken in the child'spresence. It is not usual that this first word is marked by a defectiveutterance and if such should be the case, then it is safe to say thatthis faulty utterance can be traced back to the imitation of somemember of the family, or some child who has been permitted to talk tothe child in his pre-speaking period. There is little to be gained bytracing the first word back, for no very profound conclusion can safelybe registered with such a basis, for no matter what the word be and nomatter whether it be correctly or imperfectly enunciated, it is theresult of imitation. 

There may be two exceptions to this, however, one being the case of achild with a physical defect in the organs of speech and the other thatof a child who has inherited from the parents a predisposition tostammer or stutter. These exceptions, however, are so rare as to hardlyrequire consideration. In the first (that of a physical defect) it ishardly probable that an organic defect would manifest itself in theform of stuttering or stammering, but rather in some other form ofdefective utterance. In the case of the inherited predisposition tostutter or stammer, there is always the question which has contributedmore largely to the defective utterance--the inherited predispositionor the association with others who speak in a faulty manner. 

ADVICE TO PARENTS: It is very essential that from the very beginning ofthe period of the recording of suggestion, the child is shown thecorrect and customary utterance with the best method of itsaccomplishment. The child should not be subjected to constantrepetitions of phonetic defects, imperfect utterance or speechdisorders of any sort. The child who hears none but perfect speech isnot liable to speak imperfectly, or at least not so liable as the childwho hears wrong methods of talking in use at all times, for this lastcannot escape the effects of his environment. 

CHAPTER X

DEFECTIVE SPEECH IN CHILDREN

(2) THE FORMATIVE PERIOD

The period in a child's speech development dating from the second yearand up to the sixth, is called the Formative Period, for the reasonthat this is the time when the child is busy learning new words, acquiring new habits of speech, co-ordinating and learning properly toassociate the flood of ideas which overwhelm the child-mind in thisperiod. 

The child-vocabulary at this time is but an echo of the vocabulary ofthe home. The words that have been used most frequently there are moststrongly impressed upon the child-mind. The names he has heard, theobjects he has seen, the applications of speech-ideas--these alone arenow in his mind. This condition is inevitable since the child mustlearn to speak by imitation--and, since he has had no source ofword--pictures other than the home, he must have acquired facility inthe use of only those words he has had an opportunity to hear. 

Former President Wilson, whose faultless diction, remarkable fluency ofexpression and discriminating choice of words, made him a masterspeaker and writer, attributed his facility to the training he receivedin the home of his father, a minister, where the children wereconstantly encouraged in the use of correct English and in thebroadening and enrichment of their store of words. 

From the form of simple child-speech, made up often of monosyllables orof a few brief and easy sentences, the child must now evolve a morecomplicated form of thought-expression, with the use of connectives, descriptions and a finer gradation of color than heretofore. 

This process may be materially aided by the parent by the repetition ofthe child's own utterances, proving to the child that these arecorrect, that he is being understood and giving him confidence toventure further out in his attempts at speech amplification. Thisencouragement of the child-mind in its attempts to speak is soimportant that it is worth while to give some simple examples of whatis meant, in order that the point may be clearly understood. Let ustake, first, the example of a mother who, from some cause, allowsherself to be of a nervous and irritable disposition. The small childmay say, "Mam--ma, I want a tooky. " The mother, either throughindifference or through habit, says, "You want WHAT?" This, first ofall, is like a dash of cold water to the child in his uncertain stateof mind as to the correctness of his utterance. The child repeats, "Iwant a tooky, " and in all probability gets the further inquiry, "Youwant a TOOKY--what's that?" which undermines the child's confidence inhimself and in his ability to talk. 

On the other hand, the mother who understands the needs of the childfrom a speech-forming standpoint will not insist on the child repeatingthe word time after time as if it was not understood. She will strivehard to understand the first time, even though the expression isimperfect and difficult of interpretation, and her nimble mind havingfigured out what it is that the child desires, will say, "Baby wants acooky?" Here the child, in his comparatively new occupation of talking, finds a deal of delight in knowing that his words have been properlycomprehended and feels a new confidence in his ability to expressthoughts--which confidence, by the way, is essential to normal speechdevelopment in the child. It has the further effect of correcting thetendency of faulty utterance, and in time will result in the completeeradication of the natural tendency to "baby-talk" which is too oftenencouraged and aided by the habit of parents in REPEATING THEBABY-TALK. In no case, should defective utterances be repeated, nomatter how "cute" the utterance may seem at the time. Many speakindistinctly throughout their entire life simply because of the habitof their parents in repeating baby-talk, thus confirming incorrectimages of numerous words. 

SPEECH DISORDERS IN THE FORMATIVE PERIOD: The Formative Period may markthe beginning of a speech disorder and in many instances chronic casesof stuttering and stammering may be traced to a simple disorder whichfirst manifested itself in the ages between 2 and 6. 

Speech disorders arising in this period may be traced to any one of anumber of causes. In a child of five, for instance, the diagnosticianwould look for evidences of an inherited tendency to stammer orstutter; he would look also for circumstances which would show that thechild had acquired defective utterance through mimicry of otherssimilarly afflicted or through the unconscious imitation of thedefective speech of those immediately about him. 

Failing to find any hereditary tendency to a speech defect or anyevidence that the disorder had been acquired by imitation or mimicry, the next step would be to determine whether or not the trouble had beencaused by disease or injury. 

As explained in Chapter III, the diseases of childhood, such asWhooping Cough, Scarlet Fever, Diphtheria, Acute Chorea, InfantileCerebral Palsy and Infantile Paralysis are frequently the cause ofstuttering or stammering, and a history showing a record of thesediseases would result in a very careful examination for the purpose ofdetermining if they had resulted in a form of defective utterance. 

ADVICE TO PARENTS: But whatever the cause of the trouble, care shouldbe taken to see that it grows no worse and every attempt should be madeto eradicate it at this early stage. Like a fire, speech disorders intheir early stages are insignificant compared to their future progressand can be much more readily eradicated then than later. Inasmuch as achild of less than eight years is hardly old enough to undertakeinstitutional treatment successfully, it behooves the parent of thestammering or stuttering child to render what home assistance ispossible, during this period. The old adage, tried and true, that "Anounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is never more correctlyapplied than here. A few simple suggestions may aid in preventing thetrouble from progressing rapidly to a serious stage, even though thesesuggestions do not eradicate the disorder altogether. 

First of all, the child should be kept in the very best possiblephysical condition. This means, too, plenty of fresh air and sunshine, without which any child is less than physically fit. 

It is important that the child be not allowed to associate with otherswho stammer or stutter, or who have any form of speech disorder. Imitation or mimicry, as heretofore stated, is the most prolific causeof speech trouble and to place a child who stammers or stutters in thecompany of an older person similarly afflicted, is to invite a seriousform of the disorder. 

Nervousness, while not the cause of speech disorder, is an aggravant ofthe trouble and should be avoided. The child should not be allowed toengage in anything which has a tendency to make him nervous or highlyexcited. Such a condition will aggravate the speech trouble, make itworse and tend to fix it more firmly in the child. 

Furthermore, parents should not scold or berate the child because hestammers or stutters. No child stammers or stutters because he wantsto, but because he has not the power to control his speech organs. Inother words, the child cannot help himself--and scolding and harshwords simply cause confusion and dejection which in turn react to makea more serious condition. 

THE CHANCES FOR OUTGROWING: The author's examination and diagnosis ofmore than 20, 000 cases of speech disorders has revealed the fact thatat this period in the life of the child afflicted with stammering orstuttering, slightly less than 1 percent. Outgrow the difficulty. Withproper parental care it might be possible to increase this percentage, perhaps double it, but this should hardly be called "outgrowing. " Inthe mind of the average person, the expression "outgrowing hisstammering" means that the stammerer has been able to go ahead withoutgiving the slightest heed to his trouble and that it has, by somemagical process, ceased to exist. This is a fallacy. Stammering andstuttering are both destructive and progressive and no amount ofindifference will result in relief--but on the other hand, willterminate in a more malignant type of the disorder. It IS true, however, that more care on the part of the parent in looking after theformation of speech habits in the Pre-Speaking and Formative Periods ofthe child's speech development, would result in fewer cases of chronicstammering and stuttering in later life. 

CHAPTER XI

DEFECTIVE SPEECH IN CHILDREN

(3) THE SPEECH-SETTING PERIOD

The period from the age of 6 to the age of 11 (inclusive) is in truththe Speech-Setting Period, for it is at this time that the child'sspeech habits become more or less fixed, and his vocabulary, whileconstantly developing, manifests tendencies which may be traced throughinto the later life of the adult. 

This Speech-Setting Period marks two very important events in thespeech development of the child. First, it marks the period of seconddentition or the time when the milk-teeth are "shed" and the new andpermanent teeth take their place. This is a critical period andstatistics show that there is a marked increase in speech disorders atthis time. The second event of importance, both to child and toparents, is the beginning of the work in school. It must be rememberedthat heretofore the child has been under the watchful care of theparents during most of his hours, while now, with the beginning of hiswork in school, he is having his first small taste of facing the worldalone--even if only for a little while each day. 

Regardless of the attitude which the child takes toward his work inschool, this work presents new problems and new possibilities of dangerfrom a standpoint of speech development. A slight defect in utterancewhich at home is passed over from long familiarity, is the subject ofridicule and laughter at school. For the first time in the child-life, the stammering or stuttering youngster may experience the awful feelingof being laughed at and made fun of, without exactly knowing why. Hewill have to face the questions of his thoughtless companions who willattempt to make him talk merely for the sake of entertainingthemselves. To the child who stutters or stammers, this is torture inits worst form. The humiliation and disgrace which the stammering childmust undergo on the way to school, in the school-yard and on the wayhome again, is a tremendous force in the life of the youngster--a forcewhich may seriously impede his mental development, his physical welfareand his progress in school. He finds himself unlike others, deficientin some respect and yet not realizing the exact nature of hisdeficiency or understanding why it should be a deficiency. He stands upto recite with a constantly increasing fear of failure in his heart andunless he is fortunate enough to have a teacher who understands, is aptto fare poorly at her hands, also. Even in the case of the teacher whodoes understand the child's difficulty and consequently permits writteninstead of oral recitations, there is a constant feeling of inabilityon the part of the child, a knowledge of being less-whole than thoseabout him, which saps the self-confidence so necessary to proper mentaldevelopment and normal progress. He furthermore misses much of thevalue of the studies that he pursues, for, as a noted educator hassaid, "In order for a child to remember and fix clearly in his own mindthe things he studies, those things must be repeated in oralrecitation. " And this the stammering or stuttering child cannot do. 

SENDING STAMMERING CHILDREN TO SCHOOL: With these facts in mind, thequestion arises as to whether it is ever policy to send a stammering orstuttering child to school, knowing that he is afflicted with aspeech-disorder. In the first place the parents who send a stammeringchild to school exhibit a careless disregard for the rights of othersand a further disregard for the many children who must, of a necessity, associate with this stammering child, with all the consequent dangersof infection by imitation or mimicry. Speech defects of a remediablenature among school children could be materially reduced by refusing toallow children so afflicted to play or in any way associate with theothers who talk normally. 

Aside, however, from the question of the parents' obligation to societyand to the children of others (which should be, in the end, a means ofprotection for their own children, as well) there is the bigger andmore selfish aspect of the question, viz. : the effect on the childhimself. 

No better suggestion can be given than that contained in "The Habit ofSuccess" by Luther H. Gulick, who says: "If you take a child that isreally mentally subnormal and put him in school with normal children, he cannot do well no matter how hard he tries. He tries again and againand fails. Then he is scolded and punished, kept after school and heldup to the ridicule of the teacher and other students. When he goes outon the playground, he cannot play with the vigor and skill and force ofother children. In the plays, he is not wanted on either side; he isalways 'it' in tag. So he soon acquires the presentment that he isgoing to fail no matter what he does, that he cannot do as the othersdo and that there is no use in trying. So he gives up trying. He quits. 

"That is the largest element in the lives of the feeble-minded--thatconviction that they cannot do like others, and is the first thing theymust overcome if they are to be helped. There is no hope whatever ofgrowth, as long as they foresee they are going to fail. "

The futility of trying to "cram" an education into a subnormal childhas never been better expressed than in the statement quoted above. There is nothing to be gained by insisting that a child who is ill, attend school--and it should be remembered that so far as school isconcerned, the child who stutters or stammers is just as ill as the onewith the measles, save that the illness of the stammering or stutteringchild is chronic and persistent, while that of the other is temporary. 

CHANCES FOR OUTGROWING AT THIS AGE: The opportunities for thestammering or stuttering child to outgrow his trouble are about fivetimes as great in the Formative Period, between the ages of 2 and 6, asthey are in the Speech-Setting Period, from 6 to 11. In the former, aspreviously explained, statistics show that about 1 per cent. --or one ina hundred--outgrow their trouble before the age of 6, while after thisage the percentage drops to one-fifth of one per cent, or about oneperson in every five hundred, which is a very small chance indeed. 

In speaking of the tendency of parents to wait in the hope that speechdisorders will be outgrown, Walter B. Swift, A. B. , S. B. , M. D. , has thisto say:

"This suggestion may frequently be offered, even by the physician. Manypeople say, 'Let the case alone and it will outgrow its defect. ' Notreatment could be more foolish than this. No advice could be moreill-advised; no suggestion could show more ignorance of the problems ofspeech. Such advisers are ignorant of the harm they are doing and theamount of mental drill of which they are depriving the pupil. Nor dothey know at all whether or not the case will ever 'outgrow' itsdefect. In brief, this advice is without foundation, without scientificbacking, and should never be followed. "

ADVICE TO PARENTS: Parents of children between the ages of 6 and 11 whostammer or stutter, should follow out the suggestions given in theprevious chapter, with the idea of removing the difficulty in itsincipiency if possible, or at least of preventing its progress. If bythe time the child is eight years of age, the defective utteranceremains, this fact is proof that the speech disorder is of a form thatwill not yield to the simple methods possible under parental treatmentat home and the child should be immediately placed under the care of anexpert whose previous knowledge and experience insures his ability tocorrect the defective utterance quickly and permanently. 

In all cases after the age of 8, the matter should be taken firmly inhand. There should be no dilly-dallying, no foolish belief in thepossibility of outgrowing the trouble, for whatever chances onceexisted are now past. First of all, the child's case should bediagnosed by an expert with the idea of ascertaining the exact natureof the speech disorder, the probable progress of the trouble, thepresent condition, the curability of the case and the possibilities forearly relief. A personal diagnosis should be secured where possible, but when this cannot be brought about, a written description andhistory of the case should enable the capable diagnostician of speechdefects to diagnose the case in a very thorough manner. The result ofthis diagnosis should be set down in the form of a report in order thatthe parent may have a permanent record of the child's condition and maybe able to take the proper steps for the eradication of the speechdisorder. With this information as to the child's case in hand, parentsshould be guided by the advice of Alexander Melville Bell, one of thegreatest speech specialists of his age, who said:

"Stuttering and Hesitation are stages through which the stammerergenerally passes before he reaches the climax of his difficulty, and ifhe were brought under treatment before the spasmodic habit becameestablished, his cure would be much more easy than after the malady hasbecome rooted in his muscular and nervous system. "

Truly may it be said of the stammering child at this period, that"There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leadson to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound inshallows and in miseries. "

CHAPTER XII

THE SPEECH DISORDERS OF YOUTH

Youth, as we shall define it from the standpoint of the development ofspeech disorders, is the period from the age of 12 to the age of 20. From the twelfth to the twentieth year is a very critical period in thelife of both the boy and the girl who stammers--a period which shouldhave the watchfulness and care of the parent at every step. This isknown as the period of adolescence and may be said to mark the time ofa new birth, when both mind and body undergo vital changes. Newsensations, many of them intense, arise, and new associations in thesense sphere are formed. 

To the boy or girl passing through this stage of life, it is a periodof new and unknown forces, emotions and feelings. It is a time ofuncertainty. The sure-footed confidence of childhood gives way to theunsure, hesitating, questioning attitude of a mind filled with new andstrange thoughts and a body animated by new and strange sensations. 

These are the symptoms of a fundamental change, the outwardmanifestations of the passing from childhood to manhood or womanhood. This is childhood's equinoctial storm, marking the beginning of thesecond season of life's year. In this storm, it is the paramount dutyof the parent to be a safe and ever-present pilot through the sea thatto the captain of this craft is as uncharted as the route to the Indiesin Columbus' day. 

The revolution now taking place in both the mental and bodily processesresults hi a lack of stability--an "unsettledness" that manifestsitself in restlessness, nervousness, self-consciousness or morbidness, taking perhaps the form of a persistent melancholia or desire to bealone. 

At this time in the life of the boy or girl, the possibilities forstuttering or stammering to secure a firm hold on their muscular andnervous system are very great. Next to the age of second dentition, children at the age of puberty are most susceptible to stammering orstuttering. 

During adolescence, the annual rate of growth in height, weight andstrength is increased and often doubled or more. The power of thediseases peculiar to childhood abates and the liability to the far morenumerous diseases of maturity begins, so that with the liability toboth it is not strange that this period is marked at the same time byincreased morbidity. 

The significant fact about stuttering in children as far as it relatesto the period of adolescence, is that this stage marks the mostpronounced susceptibility to the malady as well as the time duringwhich it may most quickly pass into the chronic stage. Examinationsshow that the largest percentage of stutterers among boys was at theages of eight, thirteen and sixteen, while the largest percentage amonggirls was at the ages of seven, twelve and sixteen--the earlier age ofseverity in girls being explained by the fact that the girl reaches agiven state of maturity more quickly than a boy. 

Parents of stammering or stuttering children between the ages of twelveand twenty, may well note with alarm the increasing nervousness, thehyper-sensitive feelings, the overpowering self-consciousness and themorbid tendencies which mark a state of mental depression, brooding andworry over troubles both real and fancied. 

PERIOD OF MOST FREQUENT SUICIDE: Statistics gathered over a period ofyears indicate that the cases of suicide of stammering children occurat this time with greater frequency than at any other. Rarely has acase been found where a child has attempted to take his life before theage of 12 and seldom after the age of 20. 

At frequent intervals there can be found in any of the large papers, avery brief note of the suicide of a child who had found life too muchof a burden for him to bear and who, as a consequence, fell to broodingover his troubles and as the easiest way out of them, took his ownlife. A Chicago boy attempted suicide by inhaling gas, although he wasdiscovered before it was too late. Another took his own life byshooting himself with a revolver given him some years ago as a birthdaypresent; still another took poison as the easiest way out of hishumiliation, embarrassment and despair. 

The average age of these boys was about 16 1/2 years, which marks aperiod of intense self-consciousness and extreme sensitiveness of theyouth to ridicule and disgrace. 

TENDENCY TO RAPID PROGRESS: The condition of the young person betweenthe ages of 12 and 20 can hardly be considered to be normal in any way. The physical processes are un-normal and are undergoing a change, andthe mental faculties, too, are un-normal, overwhelmed as they are withnew emotions and sensations. The nervous condition is marked by a muchhigher nervous irritability, which contributes to a condition mostfavorable for the rapid progress of the speech disorder, always easilyaggravated by a subnormal physical, mental or nervous condition. Caseswhere the Intermittent Tendency is a pronounced characteristic areliable at this period to find the alternate periods of relief andrecurrence to be more frequent than ever before and to note a markedtendency of their trouble to recur with constantly increasingmalignancy. Cases that at the age of 11 or 12, for instance, might havebeen said to have been in an incipient state, have commonly been knownat this age to pass through the successive intermediate stages of thetrouble and become of a deep-seated and chronic nature in asurprisingly short period of time. 

In some cases where the transition from a simple to the complex form ofthe difficulty takes place at this age, it is found that the disorderhas passed beyond the curable stage, in which case, of course, nothingis left to the unfortunate stammerer but the prospects of a life ofuntold misery and torture, deprived of companionship, ostracized fromsociety and debarred from participation in either business or theprofessions. 

CHANCES OF OUTGROWING: The chances for outgrowing a speech disorder atthis age are considerably less than at any other time in the previouslife of the individual. The unbalanced general condition tends to makethe stammerer more susceptible instead of less so. As previouslyexplained, this period marks the time when speech disorders progressrapidly from bad to worse and, as a consequence, the chances foroutgrowing diminished from 1 per cent, before the age of 6 topractically zero after the age of 12. SUGGESTIONS: There is little thatcan be said for the good of the young person at these ages. The timefor home treatment is past. The simple suggestions offered for theassistance of those in the Formative or Speech-Setting Periods would beof little value here because the growth of the individual has made theeradication of the trouble quite improbable without a completere-education along correct speech lines--best obtained from aninstitution devoting its efforts to that work. Whatever steps aretaken, however, should be taken before the disorder has become rootedin the muscular and nervous system and before it has passed into theChronic Stage. 

CHAPTER XIII

WHERE DOES STAMMERING LEAD?

In answering the question: "Where Does Stammering Lead?" nothing truercan be found than the words of a man who has stammered himself:

"What pen can depict the woefulness, the intensified suffering of theinveterate stammerer, confirmed, stereotyped in a malady seeminglyworse than death? Are the afflictions, mental and physical, of thepelted, brow-beaten, down-trodden stutterer imaginary? Nonsense! Thereis not a word of truth in the idea. His sufferings all the time, day inand day out, at home and abroad, are real--intense--purgatorial. Andnone but those who have drunk the bitter cup to its dregs feel and knowits death, death, double death! These afflicted ones die daily and thegraves to them seem pleasant and delightful. The sufferings of the deafand dumb are myths--but a drop in the ocean compared to what I endured!And who cared for me? Who? I wag the laughing stock, a subject ofscoffing and ridicule, often. I could fill an octavo with the miseriesI endured from early childhood till the elapsement of forty summers. "

Thus does the Rev. David F. Newton, himself a stammerer for fortyyears, speak of stammering and stuttering and its effects. And CharlesKingsley, a noted English divine and author who stammered, paints thestammerer's future in words of experience that no stammerer should everforget:

"The stammerer's life is a life of misery, growing with his growth anddeepening as his knowledge of life and his aspirations deepen. Onecomfort he has, truly, that his life will not be a long one. Some maysmile at this assertion; let them think for themselves. How many oldpeople have they ever heard stammer! I have known but two. One is avery slight ease, the other a very severe one. He, a man of fortune, dragged on a very painful and pitiful existence--nervous, decrepit, asthmatic--kept alive by continual nursing. Had he been a laboring man, he would have died thirty years sooner than he did. "

To the man who has never been through the suffering that results fromstammering or who has never been privileged to watch the careers ofstammerers and stutterers over a period of years, these final resultsof stammering seem impossible. The inexperienced observer can only askin wonder: "How can stammering or stuttering bring a man or woman tothese depths of despair?"

To the stammerer who has but begun to taste the sorrows of astammerer's life these effects of stammering appear to be the ultimateresult of an UNUSUAL case--never the inevitable result of his owntrouble. 

Doubtless if Charles Kingsley were with us today, he could look backand tell us of the day when he, too, was sure that stammering was but atrifle. He, too, could point out the tune when he felt that sometime, somehow, his stammering would magically depart and leave him free totalk as others talked. And yet, having gone down the road through along life of usefulness, Kingsley's is the voice of a mature experiencewhich says to every stammerer: "Beware--there are pitfalls ahead!" Andthis man is right. 

RESULTS OF STAMMERING: Experience proves that the results of continuedstammering or stuttering are definite and positive, and that they areinevitable. Stammering is known to be at the root of many troubles. Itcauses nervousness, self-consciousness and sometimes brings about amental condition bordering on complete mental breakdown. It causesmental sluggishness, dissipates the power-of-concentration, weakens thepower of will, destroys ambition and stands between the sufferer and aneducation. 

There is no affliction more annoying or embarrassing to its victim thanstammering. No matter how bright the intellect may be, if the tongue isunable easily and quickly to formulate the words expressing thought, the individual is held back in business and is debarred from thepleasures of social and home life. 

Stammering is a drawback to children in school. To be unable to recitemeans failure. It means humiliation. It means disgrace in the eyes ofthe other pupils. And finally, it means valuable time wasted--not ingetting an education--but in suffering untold misery in TRYING to getone--and failing. 

A boy fourteen years of age, who has failed to advance in school, andwho finds stammering a handicap of serious proportions, tells me:

"I am fourteen years old and only in the fifth grade. I am afraid torecite because of my stuttering, and because of my not reciting when myteachers call on me, I am getting low marks in school and do not knowif I will ever get through. "

One mother writes:

"My little girl will not go to Sunday School because she does not likethe other children to look at her so straight when she stammers. "

A boy says:

"I am thirteen years old and in school. I am afraid to recite becauseof my stuttering; and because of my not reciting I get low average instudies. "

Another boy told me:

"I am now in the third year of my high school course. On the first dayof the term I went to school, I made such a miserable thing of myselfthat I quit. The school superintendent and principal saw me when I cameback the second day as I was carrying my books out. Of course theystopped me and I made an explanation. I couldn't tell any of the newteachers my name. It was impossible to make any kind of a recitation. Iwas introduced to all of my teachers and have been STUMBLING ALONG eversince with grades anywhere from 0 to 60. "

A SOCIAL DRAWBACK: No stammerer but knows that his malady marks him forthe half-suppressed smiles of thoughtless people and the unkind remarksof those who really know nothing of the suffering which these unkindremarks occasion. It is true, but unfortunate, that the stammerer isnot wanted in any social gathering, he can provide no entertainment, save at his own expense, and of all people he is most ill at ease whenout among others. 

A young lady writes:

"Mr. Bogue, I would give one of my eyes to get rid of stammering. Thatis all I am after. Please excuse this awful writing. I AM SO NERVOUS ICAN HARDLY GET THE PEN INTO THE INK BOTTLE. "

Here is a letter from one man:

"I am 36 years old, and have stammered for 28 years. I don't stammer sobad, but just bad enough to spoil my life. I always have to take a backseat in company. I belong to three lodges, but I do not take part inany of them because I am afraid they will ask me to take part in theorder. It would make me feel cheap. I have often felt like committingsuicide, but I would pull my nerves together and make the best of itagain. I am now a janitor at a school. "

HOPELESS IN BUSINESS: There is not a young man stammerer in this wholecountry who would not work night and day to be cured of stammering ifhe realized the hopelessness of trying to be a success in a businessway, handicapped by stammering, unable to talk fluently, clearly andintelligently. 

A man says:

"I am 33 years old and single. I have stammered ever since I was achild. It has made me nervous. At my age it is very embarrassing to meto stutter. I kept getting more nervous from year to year, and finallyI have had to give up my position. I was a long-hand biller for tenyears, but I am now troubled with writer's cramp and unable to do much. I can't get a clerk's job because of my stuttering. "

And here is another--a man grown, who too late realized the futility oftrying to get an education while yet handicapped by stammering. Hesaid, a while back:

"I must say my stammering has spoiled my life and robbed me of asuccessful career. I would give much if my parents had sent me to becured of stammering when a boy, instead of trying as they did toeducate me. "

STAMMERER APPEARS ILLITERATE: No matter how great the stammerer'sknowledge may be, he often appears to be illiterate simply because heis unable to express himself in words. His knowledge is locked up byhis infirmity, the same as though he had a steel band drawn over hismouth and fastened with a padlock which he is unable to unlock for wantof a proper key. The man with the locked-up knowledge is under as greata handicap as the man without knowledge. 

A man who had a chance to be a big success in business, had he notstammered, says:

"Stammering is the cause of all my trouble. My earlier associates haveshunned me for several years, and I have sought the worst class ofdives and the lowest kind of companions, where I was reasonably certainthat I would not come in contact with those with whom I had associatedin earlier years. My eyes are wet with tears--tears of remorse andregret--because I see no chance in life for me now. "

The stammerer who thinks that success comes to the man whostammers--who believes that the business world is willing to put upwith anything less than fluent speech, should read this heart-brokenletter from a young man:

"I am a bookkeeper, and dearly love my work, but am afraid that I amgoing to have to give it up because my speech is getting worse, and Ihave noticed that the boss has mentioned it to me a couple of timesnow, and it almost breaks my heart to know that my position is going toget away from me. No one realizes how much one suffers, and I'm afraidI'm going to break down with nervous prostration soon. When one day isover with me, I wonder how I am going to get through with the next one. "

What are the results of stammering? Should anyone ask that question, Icould point to instances in my own experience that would prove thatalmost every undesirable condition of human existence may be the resultof stammering. I have seen young men who are business failures, dejected, hopeless, drifting along, men who in early years wereintellectual giants, and who before their death were mere children inmental power, because they allowed stammering to destroy every valuablefaculty they possessed. 

I could point to children whom stammering had held back almost from thetime they began to talk--give cases of young men depressed, embarrassed, unsuccessful, because they stammer--cite instances of allthe worth-while things in life turned from the path of a young womanbecause she stammered. 

Yet in the past, not one of these knew what was coming. Not onerealized where the trail was leading. No stammerer can of himself seeinto the future. But he can, at least, look into the future of others, who, like himself, are stammerers, and avoid the pitfalls into whichthey have fallen and save himself the mistakes they have made. 

PART III

THE CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING

CHAPTER I

CAN STAMMERING REALLY BE CURED?

It has only been a few years since the impression was abroad thatstammering was incurable. Not a particle of hope was held out to theafflicted individual that any semblance of a cure was possible by anymethod. This erroneous idea that stammering could not be cured grew upin the mind of the average person as a result of one or all of thefollowing conditions:

1st--The inability of the stammerer to cure himself and his furtherinability to outgrow the trouble, (although he was repeatedly told thathe would outgrow it) was the first reason that led to the foolish andtotally unfounded belief that stammering could not be cured. 

2nd--The principles of speech and the un-normal condition known asstammering have been surrounded with a great deal of mystery in theyears gone by. The idea has been widely prevalent that the afflictionwas one sent by Providence as a punishment for some act committed bythe sufferer or his forbears. This and many other ideas bordering uponsuperstition, are responsible, too, to a great degree for the beliefthat stammering is incurable. 

3rd--Even if an attempt to cure stammering was made, this attempt wasbased upon the "supposition" that stammering was a physical trouble, due to some defect in the organs of speech. It followed that since noone was ever able to discover any physical defect, no one knew the truecause of the disorder, nor how to treat it successfully. 

4th--Unfortunately there have been in the field a number ofirresponsible charlatans, preying upon the stammerer with claims tocure, while in fact they knew little or nothing of the disorder, hadnever stammered themselves, nor had the slightest knowledge of thecorrect methods of procedure in the core of stammering. The failure ofsuch as these to do any good led to a widespread belief that there wasno successful method for the eradication of speech disorders. 

From an experience covering more than twenty-eight years, during whichtime the author has corresponded with 210, 000 persons who stammer andhas personally met and diagnosed about 22, 000 cases, it has been provedthat all of these beliefs are fallacies of the worst character. Givenany person who stutters or stammers and who has no organic defect andis as intelligent as the average child of eight years, it has beenfound that the Unit Method of Restoring Speech will eradicate thetrouble at its source and by removing the cause, entirely remove thedefective utterance. 

THE STAMMERER'S CASE NOT HOPELESS: Stammerers should fix this factfirmly in mind: Stammering can be cured! There is hope, positive, definite hope for every case--this fact is based on every imaginableform of stuttering or stammering. It is not, in other words, a mereidle statement based on theory or guess-work, but a mathematical truth, taken from experience. 

I recall very well the case of a man of 32 who came to me for helpafter five of the so-called schools for stammerers had failed to affordhim any relief. Quite naturally this man was a confirmed skeptic. Hedid not believe that there was any cure for him. Anyone who had beenthrough the trials that he had experienced would have felt the sameway. But he placed himself under treatment, nevertheless, and in a fewweeks' time, the Unit Method had restored him to perfect speech. Heleft entirely convinced that stammering could be cured, because it hadbeen done in his own case which had so long seemed beyond all hope. 

Many years afterward, he wrote a letter which I take the liberty ofreproducing here for the encouragement and inspiration of everyone whois similarly afflicted and who feels as this man felt--that he isincurable:

"I tried to be cured of stammering at five different times by fivedifferent men at a total cost of more than one thousand dollars. Noneof them cured me. Then I decided to try the Unit Method. Nine years agoI did so--a decision that I have never regretted. It was evident thatthis method was based on a comprehensive knowledge of the art ofspeech. I am now a piano salesman and talk by the hour all day long;talk over the telephone perfectly; and many tell me that I speak moredistinctly than the majority of people who have never stammered. Ibelieve this is because I was taught through the Unit Method the veryfundamentals of speech. "

This man's case is typical of the hundreds of failures-to-cure whichare responsible for the belief that stammering cannot be cured. Thefact that he had made five separate attempts to be cured would, in themind of the average man, establish the fact that stammering cannot becured and yet it is seen that even in this extreme case, under theapplication of the proper scientific methods, the stammerer foundfreedom of speech without unusual difficulty and in a comparativelyshort time. 

CHAPTER II

CASES THAT "CURE THEMSELVES"

Not infrequently from some source will be heard a story, many timesretold, to the effect that "So-and-so" who stammered for many years hasbeen cured--that the trouble has magically disappeared and that hestammers no longer. 

What is the cause of this? What brings about such a miraculous cure?

The answer depends upon the case. Usually, the story is much more astory than a fact. Few indeed have been the stammerers who have everactually heard the man stammer before "his trouble cured itself" andthen heard him talk perfectly afterwards. Like the stories of hauntedhouses, there is nothing to substantiate the truth of the statement, there is no evidence by which the story may be checked up. 

In the rare cases where the facts would seem to indicate the truth ofthe statement, it will be found that the person in question neverreally stammered--that his trouble was something else--lalling, lisping, or some defect of speech that was mistaken for stammering orstuttering. 

Another case of apparent miraculous cure is the case of the stammererwho, finding himself unable to say words beginning with certainletters, begins the practice of substituting easy sounds for those thatare difficult and thus, provided he has only a slight case, leads manyto believe that he talks almost perfectly. This fellow is known as the"Synonym Stammerer" and is usually a quick thinker and a ready"substituter-of-words. " If he has stammered noticeably for some timeuntil those in his vicinity have become acquainted with his affliction, and then discovers the plan of substituting easy sounds for hard ones, he may for a time conceal his impediment and lead certain of hisfriends to believe that he no longer stammers. 

This "Synonym Stammerer" is storing up endless trouble for himself, however, for the mental strain of trying to remember and speak synonymsof hard words entails such a great drain upon his mind as to make italmost impossible to maintain the practice for any great length oftune. In this connection, let every stammerer be warned to avoid thispractice of substitution of words. It is a seeming way out ofdifficulty sometimes, but you will find that you are only making yourmalady worse and laying up difficulties for yourself in the future. 

CHAPTER III

CASES THAT CANNOT BE CURED

In an experience in meeting stammerers and in curing stammering it isonly natural to assume that I have come across certain cases whichcould not be cured. It is only natural, too, to expect that in such awide experience it would be possible to determine what cases areincurable and why. 

Cases of incurable speech impediments may be divided into seven classes:

 (1)--Those with organic defects; (2)--Those with diseased condition of the brain; (3)--Those who have postponed treatment until their malady has progressed so far into the chronic stage as to make treatment valueless; (4)--Those who refuse to obey instructions; (5)--Those who persist in dissipation, regardless of effects; (6)--Those of below normal intelligence; (7)--Those who will not make the effort to be cured. 

Stutterers and stammerers whose trouble arises from an organic defectare so few as to be almost an exception, but where those cases exist, they must be regarded as incurable. The re-educational process used inthe successful method of curing stuttering and stammering will notreplace a defective organ of the body with a new one. It will not cureharelip or cleft palate, nor will it loosen the tongue of the child whohas been hopelessly tongue-tied from birth. 

A boy was brought to me some years ago by his parents in the hope thathis speech trouble might be eradicated, but it was found uponexamination that he had always been tongue-tied and that the deformitywould not permit of the normal, natural movements of the tonguenecessary to proper speaking. I immediately told the parents theunfortunate condition of their son and frankly stated that in hiscondition there was no possibility of my being able to help him. 

DISEASED BRAIN: Taking up the second class--those who have a diseasedcondition of the brain--these cases, too, are very rare. I have met buta comparatively few. Where a lesion of the brain has occurred, and adistinct change has thus been brought about in the physical structureof that organ, an attempt to bring about a cure would be a waste oftime--hopeless from the start. 

THE PROCRASTINATORS: The third type of incurable cases is that of thestammerer or stutterer who, against all advice and experience, haspersisted in the belief that his trouble would be outgrown and who hasby this means allowed the disorder to progress so far into the chronicstage as to make treatment entirely without effect. 

This type of incurable is very numerous. They usually start inchildhood with a case of simple stuttering which, if treated then, could be eradicated quickly and easily. From this stage they usuallypass into the trouble of a compound nature, known as combinedstammering and stuttering. Here, also, their malady would yield readilyto proper methods of treatment, but instead of giving it the attentionso badly needed, they allow it to pass into a severe case of SpasmodicStammering, and from this into the most chronic stage of that trouble. The malady becomes rooted in the muscular system. The nervous strainand continued fear tear down all semblance of mental control and intime the sufferer is in a condition that is hopeless indeed, acondition where he is subject for the pity and the sympathy of everyone who stammers, and yet a condition brought on purely by his ownneglect and wilfulness. 

I recall the case of a father who brought his boy of 16 to see me someyears ago. At that time, the boy represented one of the worst cases ofstammering I ever saw. He could scarcely speak at all. He made awfulcontortions of the face and body when attempting to speak. When hesucceeded in uttering sounds, these resembled the deep bark of a dog. These sounds were totally unintelligible, save upon rare occasions, when he would be able to speak clearly enough to make himselfunderstood. I gave the boy the most searching personal diagnosis andvery carefully inspected his condition both mental and physical, afterwhich I was convinced that he could be cured, with time and persistentwork. The father was given the result of my findings and told of theboy's condition. He decided to take the boy home, talk the matter overand place him under my care the next week. Ten days later he wrote mesaying that the boy had secured a job in a garage at $6 a week andcould not think about being cured of stammering at that time. 

Two and a half years later--the boy was nearing twenty--I saw himagain, and even after all my experience in meeting stammerers, couldhardly believe that stammering could bring about such a terriblecondition as this boy was in at that time. His mental faculties wereentirely shattered. His concentration was gone. This poor boy wasmerely a blubbering, stumbling idiot, a sight to move the stoutestheart, a living example of the result of carelessness and parentalneglect. Needless to say, I would not consider his treatment in such acondition. There was no longer any foundation to build on--no longerthe slightest chance for benefiting the boy in the least. 

THE WILFULLY DISOBEDIENT CASES: Taking up the fourth class ofincurables, those who refuse to obey instructions--I can only say thatsuch as these are not deserving of a cure. They are not sincere, theyare not willing to hold themselves to the simplest program no matterhow great might be the resultant good. They spend their own money orthe money of their parents foolishly, get no results and disgust theinstructor who spends his or her efforts in trying to bring about acure, against obstacles that no one can overcome, viz. : unwillingnessto do as told. The old saying that "You can lead a horse to water, butyou can't make him drink" applies most forcefully to the case of thewilfully disobedient stammerer. You can instruct this individual in themethods to bring about a cure, but you can't make him follow them. 

I well remember one case in point. A young man of 20 years came to meapparently with every desire in the world to be cured of stammering. The first day he followed instructions with great care, seemed to takea wonderful interest in his work and at the end of the day expressed tome his pleasure in finding himself improved even with one day's work. By the third day, the novelty had worn off and his "smart-aleck"tendencies began to come to the surface. He was impertinent. He wasimpudent. He was rude. He failed to come to his work promptly in themorning, was late at meals, stayed out at night beyond the time limitset by the dormitory rules and persisted in doing everything in anirregular and wilfully disobedient manner. 

I was not inclined to dismiss him because of his misconduct, because itwas evident that here was a boy of more than ordinary nativeintelligence, a fine-looking chap with untold opportunities ahead ofhim, if he were cured of stammering. So I put up with his misdeeds formany days, until one morning I decided that either he must come to timeor return to his home--and he elected to take the latter course. 

In looking up this boy's record later on, it was found that he wasincorrigible, that his parents had never been successful in controllinghim at any time and that he had been expelled from school twice. 

There is no need for me to say that this boy was afflicted withsomething even worse than stammering--something that science was notable to help--i. E. , a lack of sense. His case was incurable, just asmuch so as if an inch of his tongue had been sheared off. With suchstammerers as this I have neither patience nor sympathy. They have norespect or consideration for others and are consequently entitled tonone themselves. 

THE CHRONIC DISSIPATOR: The fifth type of incurable might be called the"chronic dissipator" and his stammering is hopelessly incurable just asfar as his habits are incurable. The person who persists in undermininghis mental and physical being with dissipation and who, when he knowsthe results of his doings, will not cease, cannot hope to be cured ofstammering. Cases such as these I do not attempt to treat. They areneither wanted nor accepted. 

I recall the case of a man of 32, a big, stalwart fellow, who came tome about two years ago with a very severe case of combined stammeringand stuttering. He made his plans to place himself under my care butbefore getting back, fell a victim to his inordinate appetite for drinkand was laid up for a week. His wife wrote me the circumstances, toldme it had been going on for nine years and that all efforts toeradicate the appetite had failed. I immediately advised her that Iconsidered his case incurable and could not accept him for treatment. In such cases, a cure is built upon too shallow and uncertain afoundation to offer any hope of being permanent. 

BELOW NORMAL INTELLIGENCE: There is another incurable case which mustbe included if we are to complete this list of the incurable forms ofspeech impediments. That is the case of the stammerer who is of belownormal intelligence. These cases are very rare and I do not recall butfour instances where a case has been diagnosed as incurable on accountof the lack of intelligence. This is a direct refutation of thestatement that stammerers are naturally below normal in mental ability. Out of more than twenty-six years' experience in meeting stammerers bythe thousands, I can say most emphatically that stammerers as a classARE NOT NATURALLY BELOW NORMAL INTELLIGENCE OR MENTAL POWER, SAVE ASTHEIR TROUBLE MAY HAVE AFFECTED THEIR CONCENTRATION OR WILL-POWER. 

THE LACKADAISICAL: The last and largest class of incurable cases ofstammering are those who will not make the effort to be cured. Theseare the spineless, the unsure, the cowards, who are afraid to tryanything for fear it will not be successful. 

They are usually afflicted with a malady worse than stammering orstuttering--"indecision"--a malady for which science has found noremedy. Knowing the dire results of continued stammering, still theystammer. Reason fails to move them to the necessary effort. Commonsense makes no appeal. Well, indeed, in such cases, may we paraphrasethe words of Dr. Russell H. Conwell and say:

"There is nothing in the world that can prevent you from being cured ofstammering but YOURSELF. Neither heredity, environment or any of theobstacles superimposed by man can keep you from marching straightthrough to a cure if you are guided by a firm, driving determinationand have health and normal intelligence. "

These seven classes of incurable cases complete the list. And thenumber of such cases, all taken together, is so small as to be almostout of consideration. For, out of a thousand cases of stuttering andstammering examined, I find but 2 per cent. With organic defects or ofan incurable nature. In other words, 98 per cent. Can be completely andpermanently cured. 

CHAPTER IV

CAN STAMMERING BE CURED BY MAIL?

In the years past there have been attempts from time to time to inducethe stammerer to seek a cure for his impediment in mail ordertreatments. As has already been told, I was the victim of one of theseso-called "correspondence-cures" and know something about them frompersonal experience. 

In the first place, the sufferer usually takes up with the mail orderspecialist because this man retails his "profound" knowledge at a lowrate, a rate so low that even a single thought on the subject wouldconvince anyone that his money was buying a few sheets of paper but noprofessional knowledge or experience. 

The very best correspondence course I have ever known anything aboutwas not as good as a number of books on elocution that are available inany good library. Usually these courses are written by some charlatanwho is in business as a mail-order-man selling trinkets and stammeringcures or running a general correspondence school, teaching not only howto cure stammering by correspondence but giving courses in"Hair-Waving" and "How to Become a Detective. " It is needless for me tosay that such as these are in the business, not for the good of thestammerer nor even for the purpose of helping him, but simply for themoney that can be extracted from the stammerer or stutterer. 

THE DIFFERENCE: There are two main differences, however, between thebooks which the stammerer may read without cost and the correspondencecourse for which he pays out his good money--many dollars of it. Thecorrespondence course has been written by a man who knew little ornothing of the subject, and who put out a course for stammerers onlybecause he knew something of the number of stammerers in his territoryand said to himself, "My, but I ought to be able to sell them amail-order cure. " Forthwith he sits down and writes a course--it isn'tnecessary to have anything in it at all. Often these men do not eventake the trouble to consult reliable books on the subject. They do notprofess to know anything about stammering or stuttering, their cause ortheir cure. They simply sit down and write--and when they have itwritten, they send it to the printer, have it printed and then splitthese printed sheets up into ten, or twenty, or fifty, or a hundredlessons--whatever their fancy may dictate, and begin to sell them. Theyhave no thought of the results--results to them mean nothing save thenumber of courses that can be sold--and whether or not a single iota ofgood accrues to the stammerer from this expenditure of money is one ofthe things in which the correspondence school stammering specialist isnot at all interested. 

The most that can be expected from the very best mail course for thecure of stammering is that the subscriber will receive informationworth as much as that which might be in a library book. He receivesthis in installments and for privilege of reading it piece-meal, paysfrom $50 to $100. 

It is hopeless to try to cure stammering or stuttering by any methodunless the instructor knows his business. And this knowledge comes notby chance but by long, hard study. 

MAIL CURES A FAILURE: No stammerer should attempt to be cured by anycorrespondence method. When the decision has been made to have a speechdefect removed, the sufferer should place himself under the care of areputable institution, the past record of which entitles it toconsideration. Correspondence cures are a waste of money, a waste oftime and finally leave the stammerer with the firm-founded belief thathis trouble is absolutely incurable, when, as a matter of fact, he mayhave a comparatively simple form of stuttering or stammering whichcould be quickly eradicated by the proper institutional treatment. 

At no time should the stammerer resort to the use of any mechanicalcontrivance to aid him in speaking correctly. The cause of the troubleas previously explained, is inco-ordination. Mechanical contrivances tohold the tongue in a certain position, elevate the palate or for anyother purpose may be positively harmful and should be strictlyavoided--ALWAYS. 

CHAPTER V

THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERT DIAGNOSIS

A diagnosis is an examination or analysis to determine the identity ofa disease and to reveal its cause and characteristics. A reputablemedical man will not undertake the treatment of any malady withouthaving first made a searching examination and a thorough diagnosis ofthe trouble. 

In the case of the stammerer or stutterer, expert diagnosis is veryimportant and should be undertaken only by a diagnostician who has hadprevious training and experience of sufficient duration to enable himto be classed as an expert on the subject. No stammerer or stutterer, however, should overlook the value of such diagnosis, for the reasonthat there are so many forms of speech disorders that it is totallyimpossible as well as unsafe for the sufferer himself to try todetermine the exact nature of his trouble. 

I recall the case of a certain young man who had depended upon his ownknowledge to determine the identity of his speech defect and the natureof his trouble. When a boy, he had swallowed a small program pencilwith a metal tip, injuring his vocal cords, so he said, and causing himto become a stammerer. An examination of his condition and a carefuldiagnosis of his case revealed the fact that his vocal organs were asnormal as those of any person who had never stammered. The diagnosisalso revealed the fact that his stammering was not originally caused byany organic defect or any injury to the vocal organs, but that, on theother hand, he had, in the first place, inherited a predisposition tostammer, his father and his grandfather both having been stammererswhose trouble had never been remedied. The diagnosis showed that theonset of the trouble immediately after swallowing the pencil was duechiefly to the nervous shock and fright caused by the accident, which, in conjunction, with the inherited predisposition toward stammering, was too much for the boy's mental control and he immediately developedinto a stammerer. The young man had believed for many years that hisdefective utterance was totally incurable, that it was due to anorganic defect which could not be remedied. The diagnosis quicklyrevealed, however, that a very different condition was responsible forhis trouble and as a consequence, he found himself able to be curedwhere, without expert diagnosis, he had resigned himself to a life as astammerer. 

Another case which also shows the stammerer's inability to diagnose hisown trouble accurately was that of a woman who persistently refused toallow her son to have his case diagnosed, because of her belief that hewas incurable and that the diagnosis would be a waste of time and money. 

After months of coaxing, however, he succeeded in getting her toconsent and I gave him a thorough diagnosis and report on hiscondition. This mother had been unduly alarmed--the boy was still in acurable stage and in fact completed the necessary work in much lessthan the usual time. This is but another case that shows the loss whichcomes from not knowing the truth. 

Written Report of Diagnosis Valuable: It is well to get a personaldiagnosis of the case where possible, but if this cannot be done, awritten history of the case, together with a statement of the symptomsand present condition, should enable the expert diagnostician of speechdefects to make a thorough and reliable diagnosis of the trouble. 

This diagnosis, to be of the most value to the stammerer or stutterer, should be made up in the form of a written report, so that theinformation may be in permanent form and so that the sufferer can studyhis own case in all its angles. 

WHAT DIAGNOSIS SHOULD SHOW: First of all, of course, the diagnosisshould identify and label your trouble. It should tell what form ofspeech defect is revealed by the symptoms; it should tell the cause ofthe trouble; the stage it is now in; should indicate whether or notthere is any organic defect; should give information as to thepossibilities of outgrowing the trouble; and, most important of all, should state whether or not the disorder is in a curable stage. 

When it is remembered that nearly a dozen more or less common speechdisorders can be named, almost in one breath, and that some of thesedisorders may pass through four or five successive stages, it will beseen that an expert diagnosis and report is almost a necessity to thestammerer or stutterer who would have reliable and authoritativeinformation about his speech disorder. 

The stammerer or stutterer who voluntarily remains in the dark, who issatisfied with gross ignorance of his trouble, is surely not on theroad to freedom of speech. 

The most able man cannot decide correctly without the facts. To decidein the absence of information is guesswork--and guesswork is a poormethod of deciding what to do--in the case of the stammerer as in everyother case. 

Therefore, it behooves the stammerer to become enlightened to as greatan extent as possible, to banish ignorance of his trouble and replaceit with facts and sound knowledge. 

CHAPTER VI

THE SECRET OF CURING STUTTERING AND STAMMERING

If the reader has followed this work carefully up to this point, he isnow informed on the causes of stuttering and stammering, on theircharacteristic tendencies and their peculiarities. We are now ready toask, "What are the correct methods for the cure of stuttering andstammering?" and to answer that question authoritatively. 

As to the successful mode of procedure in determining the propermethods for the cure of stuttering and stammering, I know of nosuggestion better than that offered by Alexander Melville Bell, whosays:

"The rational, as it is experimentally the successful method ofprocedure, is first to study the standard of correct articulation (NOTthe varieties of imperfect utterance) and then not to go from oneextreme to another, but at every step to compare the defective with theperfect mode of speech and so infallibly to ascertain the amount, thekind and the source of the error. "

We have already done that: We have located the cause of the trouble. Wenot only know that stammering is caused by a lack of co-ordinationbetween the brain and the muscles of speech, but we know the thingswhich may bring about the lack of co-ordination. Now, how to cure?Simply remove the cause. Re-establish normal co-ordination between thebrain and the muscles of speech. Restore normal brain control over thespeech organs. Make these organs respond freely, naturally and promptlyto the brain messages. 

That sounds simple. But if it is as simple as it sounds, why is it thatso many in the past have failed to cure stammering and stuttering? Whyhave so many so-called methods of cure passed into the discard? Theanswer is, they were based on the wrong foundation. They struck at theeffects and not at the cause of the trouble. And as a result, themethods failed. 

These so-called methods have aimed at many different effects. Onemethod, for instance, had as its theory that if you could cure thenervousness, the stammering would magically disappear. The unfortunatesufferer was doped with vile-tasting bitters and nerve medicines, so-called, in the hope that his nervous system would respond totreatment. But the nerves could not be quieted and the nervous systembuilt up until the cause of the nervousness--which was stammering--wasremoved. 

There was a time, too, and it has not been so long ago, when the crazewas on for using surgery as a cure-all for stammering. Terriblebutchery was performed in the name of surgery--the patient's tonguesometimes being slitted or notched, and other foolish and cruelsubterfuges improvised in an effort to cure the stammering. Needless tosay, there was no cure found in such methods. There is no chance ofcuring a mental defect by slitting the tongue and the absurdities ofthat "butchering period" which have now passed away, are numbered amongthe mistakes of those who committed them. 

A lack of thoroughness marked the later attempts to cure stammering. One method was based, for instance, solely upon correct breathing. There is no doubt that correct breathing is very vital both to thestammerer and the non-stammerer, if they are to speak fluently andwell. But breath-control does not even begin to solve the problem ofcuring stammering. It is but an element, and a small element, in theproper articulation of words. And however well this plan ofbreath-control might have succeeded, it could never have succeeded inreally curing stuttering and stammering. 

Most of these ill-advised efforts and half-baked methods sprang up, notas a result of sound knowledge but rather as a result of the lack ofit. In fact, looking back at the manner in which the stammerer wastreated for stammering under these methods, we can see now that nothingbut the most profound ignorance of the fundamental principlesunderlying the art of speaking could have made it possible for thesemisguided instructors to pass out as science the jargon and hodge-podgewhich they did try to pass off as scientific knowledge. The absurditiespropounded in the name of stammering cures were too numerous even toenumerate in this volume. 

SPEECH PRINCIPLES FUNDAMENTAL: Back of every spoken word, whether thatword be French, English, Italian, or any other language, are theunchangeable principles of speech. These principles of speech arefundamental. They do not change basically nor do they vary in theindividual. When you speak correctly, you do so as a result offollowing the correct principles of speech. I speak correctly by thesame method as you. And when you speak incorrectly, or when you stutteror stammer, you do so because you have violated one or more of thesefundamental principles. Any other person who stammers or stutters asyou do, violates the same principles and requires the same method ofcorrection as yourself. The severity of your case depends upon how manyof the principles of speech you violate. A diagnosis will determinethis--and therefore what is necessary to be done to bring about perfectspeech. The number of speech violations to be corrected will alsodetermine to a certain extent the time required for correction. 

SPEECH DEFINED: Speech, in all the diversities of tongues and dialects, consists of but a small number of articulated elementary sounds. Theseare produced by the agency of the lungs, the larynx, and the mouth. Thelungs supply air to the larynx, which modifies the stream into whisperor voice; and this air is then moulded by the plastic oral organs intosyllables which singly or in accentual combinations constitute words. 

As explained in the Chapter on Causes, all of the physical organs whichhave to do with the production of speech and all of the brain centerswhose duty it is to control the actions of these various organs, mustoperate in harmony, or, in other words, must coordinate, if we are tohave perfect speech. Co-ordination implies perfect mental control ofphysical actions. And this in turn means perfect obedience of thephysical organs of speech to the brain messages that are received. 

The cure of stammering and stuttering requires a great deal of carebased, of course, upon the correct scientific knowledge in the firstplace. 

In attempting to cure stammering, there has been too much teaching byrigid rules and not enough teaching by principles. There are very fewhard-and-fast rules that can be followed with success by everystutterer or stammerer. No set of rules can be laid down as a standardfor every one to follow, for no two persons stammer exactly alike anymore than two persons look exactly alike. 

The only safe rule of all the rules is that which says, "Cleave closelyto the principles, let the rules fall where they may. " The onlysuccessful method is that which, being first based upon the rightprinciple, is followed out with intelligence by the stammerer andadministered with wisdom by the instructor to fit the needs andrequirements of the individual case. 

METHODS NECESSARILY THREE-FOLD: The cure of stammering and stutteringcan be wrought only by a method that is three-fold-that attacks all ofthe un-normal conditions of the stammerer simultaneously and eradicatesthem in unison. 

It would be of little avail, for instance, to build up perfect breathcontrol, and leave the stammerer in a mental state where he wascontinually harassed by a fear of failure, by a continualself-consciousness and irritated by a deep-seated nervousness. 

And it would be of just as little use to try to remove thatself-consciousness, fear of failure and nervousness without removingthe cause of the stammering. 

In other words, when the successful method of curing stammering isspoken of as being threefold in purpose, it is meant that this methodmust build up the physical being, must achieve perfect mentalequilibrium and must link up the physical with the mental in perfectharmony. 

A permanent cure can rest on no other foundation than perfectrestoration to a truly normal mental and physical condition. When thishas been accomplished and when the synchronization of brain and speechorgans has been brought about, the muscles of speech do not hesitate inresponding to a brain message for the utterance of a word. There is nolonger any sticking, any loose or hurried repetition. In other words, perfect speech now comes as a logical consequence. 

SPEECH SPECIALIST SHOULD HAVE STAMMERED: It is very important that thespeech expert who would promulgate a method for the eradication ofstammering should have, at one time or another, stammered himself. 

It is a well-known fact that the imagination cannot conjure up an imageof something that has never been experienced. If you had been bornblind, you would have no mental picture of any color, no matter howmuch you might have heard about it. Still your imagination might be amost prolific one. The utmost feat of the human imagination is tocombine mental pictures to form still other images which are impossibleor absurd or which in their entirety have not been experienced. Inother words, new combinations of images are possible, but an entirelynew or basic picture is beyond the power of the imagination to create. 

So, with the specialist who would cure stuttering and stammering. It isimpossible for the man who has never stammered or stuttered to know thefear that grips the sufferer when he thinks of speaking. It isimpossible for one who has never stammered to imagine what this fear islike or to know the feeling that accompanies it. 

For that reason, it is important that the man who attempts to eradicatespeech defects should have been afflicted himself in order that hisexperience may have been acquired first-hand--that the suffering mayhave been felt and all of the conditions and situations of thestammerer may be as familiar to him as to his student. 

Value of Moral Influence in the Cure of Stammering: In speaking of thenecessity for good health, both physical and mental, before theeradication of stammering can take place, we must not overlook a fewwords about one particular type of derelict--the will-less or sometimeswilful individual who persists in indulging in dissipation of everykind, the individual who, with cocksure attitude and haughty sneer, laughs in the face of experience and insists that "it will not botherhim. " To such as these, no hope can be held out. Such tactics leaveboth body and mind in a condition that does not permit of up-building. There is little foundation for any effort and with the passing of eachday, there is a tearing-out of bodily and mental vigor that makes alleffort useless. 

But in the average individual, physical rebuilding is a process of buta few weeks. The mental rehabilitation can usually be accomplished inan equally short period of time and when these things have been broughtabout, perfect speech soon follows if the correct methods are applied. 

CHAPTER VII

THE BOGUE UNIT METHOD DESCRIBED

At the time a stammerer or stutterer first places himself under my careand before any attempt is made to apply the treatment, he is given avery thorough and searching examination for the purpose of learning theexact nature of his difficulty. It must be remembered that no two casesof stammering or stuttering are exactly alike and that no two casesrequire exactly the same method of treatment, although the same basicprinciples apply to all. 

Even if the stammerer's case has been previously diagnosed by me, it isnecessary to compare and verify the symptoms as previously exhibitedwith those existing at the time of his beginning treatment, in order tolearn, first of all, whether his malady has more recently progressedinto a further and more serious stage. 

The Bogue Test: If the usual entrance examination does not bring outall of the essential facts regarding the case, the stammerer is thenput through the Bogue Test--an original system of diagnosis which Iperfected some years ago--by means of which the peculiarities of thetrouble are brought out, the NORMAL, the SUBNORMAL and the ABNORMALcondition of the disorder is gauged and the most minute details of thetrouble are disclosed. This Bogue Test covers the case from everypossible angle. It lays bare the exact physical, mental and nervouscondition of the stammerer or stutterer, enables me to determine theoriginal cause of the trouble and to follow its progress from the firstup to the present time, almost as easily as if the student had beenunder my observation ever since he first noticed his defect of speech. 

I recall the case of a boy who came to me at one time for a personaldiagnosis of his case. I examined him carefully, put him through anumber of tests and diagnosed his case, which proved to be in thesecond stage and of no more than ordinary severity. He was unable toplace himself under my care at that tune but returned to me about eightmonths later, apparently in no worse condition than before. Not beingsatisfied with the results of the examination, the complete test wasapplied, with the result that a condition of grave seriousness wasdiscovered, marking the most pronounced form of his trouble--a form sofar advanced as to make the case almost incurable. The situation wasexplained to the young man and he was told that it would take muchlonger than usual to bring about a cure in his case, although such acure was yet possible. He expressed his willingness to spend as muchtime as was necessary in the cure and as a result, he was able withinsome weeks' time to talk without stuttering or stammering. The mentalsluggishness which marked his conversation soon disappeared. He becamealert and eager and when he left for home, he was a much different boythan when he came for treatment. 

This is but one of hundreds of examples showing the need for expertdiagnosis and for careful analysis of the condition of the stammerereven if a previous diagnosis has been made within a few months. 

In practically all cases of stammering, particularly those of aprogressive character, the condition is naturally changeable and commonprudence calls for caution in accepting antedated facts as anindication of the present condition. 

In every case, the examination enables me to gauge the severity of thecase so accurately that the student's course can be outlined, designating the exact Plan-of-Attack to be used in:

 1--Tearing out the improper methods of speech production 2--Replacing those incorrect methods with the correct natural methods 3--Re-establishing normal co-ordination between the brain and the muscles of speech. 

The Method at Work: When the preliminary Examination and Tests havebeen completed and the student's course outlined, the actual working ofthe Bogue Unit Method then begins. This does not involve the practiceof any "ism" or "ology, " nor does it require the use of medicines, drugs, surgery, hypnotism or the "laying-on-of-hands, " but byscientific and natural methods, begins the first step of the work, viz. : Tearing out the improper methods of speech production. 

At every step in the application of the method, the principles whichunderlie and govern perfect articulation, serve as the foundation ofthe instruction. As has been so often stated in this book, theseprinciples of speech never change. They apply to all persons alike, andall who talk normally apply these principles in the same manner. Thosewho stammer violate them, so that in correcting defective speech it isonly logical that we should first remove the defective procedure andthen institute the correct procedure in its place. 

The Bogue Unit Method is three-fold in action. From this it takes thename "Unit Method. " The first Unit of Treatment has for its purpose thebuilding up of physical efficiency. "The first requisite is to be agood animal, " says Herbert Spencer. This is certainly true of thestammerer, for in his case, normal health is a valuable aid during thetime of treatment. Consequently, the first step is to build up thephysical organs and be sure that these are functioning properly. 

The second Unit of Treatment restores the mental equilibrium, stabilizes the mental activities and places them under perfect control. The inability of the mind to control the organs of speech has led to acondition which might be described as a "flabbiness of the mentalmuscles" which necessitates that the mental condition be altered andimproved so that the mind can once more possess the capacity forproperly controlling the organs of speech. 

The third Unit of Treatment synchronizes and harmonizes mental andphysical actions and re-establishes normal co-ordination between thebrain and the muscles of speech, which completes the work necessary tobring about a cure. After both physical and mental conditions have beenmade normal, it merely remains to link up these two properly-workingforces, co-ordinate their activities and firmly inhabitate the correctprinciples of control, after which it can be said that a complete cureis permanently effected. 

Daily Record of Progress: Beginning with the first day, a completereport in writing is made of the progress. Each point on which thestudent makes progress is noted. If proper advancement is not made onany particular point, special effort is put forth to bring that pointup to the standard which has been set. This makes it possible for theinstructor to give individual attention to each student, somethingwhich is absolutely essential in many cases. In other words, it willnot do to start the student off and let him work out his own salvation. The instructor must be constantly at hand, giving advice, correctingfaulty articulation and constantly aiding the stammerer in a hundredways to route the malady. 

After having been under treatment for seven days, the student issubjected to his first treatment test. After passing this examinationsatisfactorily, the student is assigned additional work from anotherangle. Some students require as much as ten days to complete the worknecessary to pass this first test--in fact, it might also be said thatthis test will determine the speed with which the student is toprogress. From this time until the completion of the course, additionaltests are given at various intervals, according to the needs of thecase, until the Final Cure Test proves that the malady has beeneradicated. 

Conscious of the Improvement: The stammerer is profoundly conscious ofa distinct change for the better by the end of the very first day undertreatment. In other words, there is an immediate and noticeableimprovement, not only in his nervous condition, but also in hisphysical and mental state as well. 

Before the student passes from under the treatment, he is thoroughlyaware of the benefits which the work has brought about. For, after hehas met every progress test and has been examined on every phase andevery principle of speech, he passes to a rigid Final Test. In thistest, more than ever before, he finds the results of his efforts. Hediscovers that he can use his speech in any way that he desires--in anyway that it will be necessary for him to use it in his future life. Hefinds himself able to produce any sound--labial, dental, lingual, nasalor palatal or any combination of these sounds in any language. He findsevery word now is an easy word, articulation is under perfect controland the formation of voice a process involving no apparent mentaleffort or physical contortions. 

A young woman of 20 years was placed under my care by her mother. Shestammered very badly and at the time when her condition was at itsworst, found it almost impossible to make herself understood by anymeans. After five weeks of careful instruction, this young woman had nodifficulty whatever in speaking, there was no "piling up of thoughts, "as she expressed her former condition, and her articulation wasexcellent. A few days after she returned home, she wrote as follows: "Ihave been talking ever since I came home and have had no troublewhatever. I just love to talk and I believe I have said more in thelast five days than in the whole last five years. "

Additional Results: The Bogue Unit Method of Cure when earnestlyfollowed out by the student, does much more than eradicate theimpediment of speech. It increases the weight of the below-the-averagestudent, stops all spasmodic or convulsive efforts of face, arms andlimbs and increases by several inches what was formerly a flat andpoorly developed chest. 

A very bad case who came to me for treatment several years ago was ayoung man of 26. He not only stuttered but stammered very badly. Heplaced himself under my guidance for a period of a little more than sixweeks. At the end of that time he found no difficulty in talking norwere there any spasmodic movements of the facial muscles, as before. Inreporting some time later, he said:

"When I left I tipped the scales at 20 pounds heavier than when I wentto you. My folks are certainly pleased to hear me talk without thestraining and strangling exertion I had before in trying to force mywords out. Now they flow out nice and easy. "

Many children, both boys and girls, are under developed. This may haveresulted from several causes, but it is frequently traceable to thestammering or stuttering as an indirect cause. The Bogue Unit Methodtakes these children in a poor physical condition and while eradicatingthe defect of speech, brings about a healthy physical development. AnOhio woman reported excellent results in a letter which said:

"I am glad to inform you that my son Allan since taking the treatmentin June last, has not to my knowledge, stammered once, for which we areall very grateful to the Bogue Method. I also wish to say that hisphysical condition is much improved and he has increased in weightabout ten pounds. "

Regardless of the age of the student, there is an increased vitalityflowing through the entire body, the powers of endurance are greatlyincreased and the health built up from every stand-point. One man sentin an enthusiastic report in these words:

"I am fine and healthy; the people down here say I don't look like thesame person. I gained 17 pounds while I was out there. I am talkingfine. My mother says I talk them nearly to death. I talk them all tobed at night, so they put out the light on me so I will go to bed andhush. I went down town Saturday night and the boys were sure glad tohear me talk without stammering. "

Even THIS physical improvement is not unusual. 

Another man reports the change brought about in his condition asfollows:

"Just about two years ago I was one of the worst stammerers I know thatever was; it was simply awful. I could not speak a word without themost terrible stammering you ever heard. My parents were heartbrokenover my condition, which grew worse all the time. I did not grow anddevelop like my brothers. My shoulders were stooped, my chestsunken--in fact, I was in a terrible condition. After staying with youfor six weeks I came home and every one who knew me when I left wassimply astonished at the improvement, not in my speech alone, but in myphysical condition also. Am stronger and well now and I say it is acomfort to be able to talk like other boys. "

This case is not an unusual one, however, for it is frequently foundthat the stammering child grows into a physically deficient man as aresult of his speech impediment. 

Concomitant with these physical betterments comes a changed mentalattitude, whereby the former pessimistic outlook has been changed to anoptimistic view of life. The former abnormal timidity of the studenthas been replaced by a perfect confidence; the old unreasoningfear-of-failure is transformed into a feeling of supreme self-reliance;and the depressed, care-worn expression which may once have marked thestammerer's countenance has given place to that of cheerfulness. 

The weak and vacillating will now manifests itself as a dominant, masterful power-of-will and the stagnant mentality of the stammerer hasnow given place to a vigorous, forceful, creative mental power. Themind-wandering or lack of ability to concentrate is gone and in itsplace is an intense and well controlled power-of-concentration. Inaddition to this, the nervousness which marked the every movement ofthe stammerer has disappeared and the self-consciousness which madelife a misery is replaced by a calm self-control, resulting in anentire self-forgetfulness, perfect poise and a feeling ofself-possession. 

These benefits accrue gradually as the course progresses, but when, upon the completion of the course, perfect speech is finally restored, the results are fully evident and entirely permanent. Their permanencyis the crowning result of the proper methods--methods which eradicatethe trouble at its source--treat and remove the cause instead oftreating the effect. 

CHAPTER VIII

SOME CASES I HAVE MET

During the last twenty-eight years, I have personally met more than22, 000 stammerers, diagnosed 97, 000 cases by mail and corresponded withmore than 210, 000 people who stammer or stutter. In this time, it isonly natural that I should have come in contact with almost everyconceivable type of stammering in practically every form. 

I am going to describe a few of these cases in this chapter, give theirhistory and description very briefly, follow out the course of thetrouble when unchecked and indicate the circumstances of cure when thestammerer has placed himself for treatment. 

I shall make no attempt to discuss all types of speech disorders noreven all of the forms of any one type, but rather to take up thosecases which can be regarded as most common and which are typical of thedisorders of the largest number of stammerers and stutterers. Since awhole volume could easily be filled with descriptions of cases, it isevident that those discussed here must be but briefly described. 

(The case numbers in the following pages refer to specific cases, butnot to the order of their treatment, since the classification is adecimal system used to indicate type, duration, stage, etc. )

Case No. 65. 435--This was a boy of 8, brought to me by his mother afterhe had experienced untold trouble in school. The boy complained of apain in his head when making an effort to talk or after having spokenunder the strain for some minutes. I found the spasmodic contractionsaccompanying his trouble to be very pronounced for a boy so young inyears and upon making the examination, was not surprised to find his tobe a case of Combined Stammering and Stuttering. There was noindication of Thought-Lapse, but there was a condition that couldeasily have been mistaken for it--viz. : a woeful lack of confidence inhis own ability to speak, which in this boy's case was due to the factthat he had stuttered almost since his first word and had rarely spokenwords correctly. As has been previously explained, every child learnsto speak by imitation and his confidence in his speaking-ability mustbe gained by constant reassurance from some source that he is speakingcorrectly. Early in life this boy had found that he was NOT speakingcorrectly and at that moment began to feel the lack of confidence whichhad been growing upon him daily. Although in the midst of his schoolwork, arrangements were easily made to remove him from class and placehim for treatment. Notwithstanding the fact that his trouble wasunusually severe for a boy of that age, seven weeks at the Institutesaw him made into a new boy, his confidence regained, his speech underperfect control and his physical condition greatly improved. Hereturned to school, where his unusual proficiency enlisted the aid andco-operation of his teachers to such an extent that he was able tofinish the semester with his class. 

Case No. 7. 232--This was another boy of early school age, whose case isdescribed here because of the contrast of the one just mentioned. Thepresent case was that of a boy soon to be 10 years old. He hadstammered, not since his first word, but only since he had been allowedto play with two children, twins, who lived in the neighborhood, andboth of whom had stuttered since their first attempts to speak. While Inever examined the twins, it seems from what I learned of them, thatthe predisposition to stammer was an inherited one, both the father andgrandfather having been inveterate stammerers. Be that as it may, theirdefective enunciation, practiced in the presence of the boy whose caseI am describing, caused the boy himself to acquire a habit of imperfectenunciation which took the form of simple stuttering and which all thehome efforts of his mother and father had failed to eradicate. At thetime he was brought to me, I gave him the usual examination, traced histrouble back to its original cause--Unconscious Imitation diagnosed hiscase as one of Simple Stuttering and recommended the procedure to befollowed. This boy left my care after three weeks and experienced nofurther difficulty to this day, although he is now 24 years old andengaged in work that necessitates his making impromptu speeches almostevery day. Here was a case of Simple Stuttering, taken at the righttime, which yielded almost magically to the treatment, but had it beenallowed to run on, would have progressed into the Advanced Stage ofStuttering and later, in all probability, into an extremely severe caseof Combined Stammering and Stuttering. 

Case No. 986. 523--This was the case of a Polish boy who found it almostimpossible to begin a word or a sentence. In describing his case to me, he finally managed to say, "Before I utter a word it takes me a longtime and after I utter the word, I become red in the face and soexcited that I don't know where I am, or what I am doing!" I found thisboy to be extremely high-strung and of a nervous temperament, easilyexcited. He was of an emotional type, was more-than-ordinarilysensitive about his trouble and brooded over it constantly, having longfits of deep melancholia that were a constant source of worry to hisparents. He was furthermore at a critical age, from the standpoint ofhis speech development, just approaching 16. Although naturally of anagreeable disposition, his trouble had made him irritable and oftensullen. He wore an air of dejection almost constantly. It was evidentto me immediately upon examination that his trouble had had a graveeffect upon his mind and that it would in time (and not so long a time, either) have a deep and permanent effect that no amount of effort coulderadicate. 

It would be naturally expected that his symptoms would indicateThought-Stammering, but this is not true. Instead I found his to be abad case of Spasmodic Stammering, in which the convulsive action tookplace immediately upon an effort to speak and which resulted, therefore, in the inability to express a sound--the "sticking" tendencyso common to stammering and particularly to this type. 

While the worry over his stammering had left him in a mental state thatmade him impotent so far as normal mental accomplishments wereconcerned, still the removal of his stammering by the eradication ofthe cause would, I felt, entirely relieve the condition of mentalflurry and stop the nervousness. 

The case was so urgent that the boy's parents decided to place him fortreatment immediately. The results were so gratifying as to be almostunbelievable. By the end of the first day's work, the boy's wholemental attitude was changed. His outlook on life was different. He feltthe thrill of conquering his difficulty and before many days, he wasworking like a Trojan to make his cure complete and permanent. At mysuggestion, he remained with me for seven weeks, at the end of whichtime he went back East, entirely changed in every particular. He wassmiling now, where before he seemed to have forgotten how to smile. Hewas full of life, enthusiasm and ambition--no one who had seen him theday he first came here, could realize that this was the same boy thatentered a few weeks before with the desire-to-live almost extinct. There are hundreds of cases riot far different from this--I have citedthe case of this Polish boy to show what a complete transformation ismade in the mental state by a few weeks' work along the right lines. 

Case No. 87. 522--Here was a case of a type that is very, very common. It was that of a girl, 17 years of age, from a good family, well-educated and having all the marks of careful training in a home ofrefinement. The most marked characteristic of her case was the tendencyto recur. In other words, she was an Intermittent Stammerer, who hadbelieved (as had her parents) that the tendency to get better was anindication that she would soon outgrow the trouble. "If Marie stillstammers by the time she is 18--" this had come to be almost ahousehold word, for if she stammered at that time, it was the intentionof her parents (so they said) to have the girl placed under treatment. As was to be expected, she continued to stammer and continued to getsteadily worse, although the tendency to be better and worse by turnswas maintained throughout the years. The periods of improvement wereeagerly seized by her parents, year after year, as indications ofout-growing, while the periods of relapse were seldom spoken of andusually ignored. It was another case of the old saying that: "We liketo think that the thing will happen which we want to happen, " and sincethey wanted the daughter to outgrow her trouble, they insisted inbelieving, despite their own unexpressed fears, that the daughter would"eventually get over it!"

She did not get over it, however, and the critical age of 16 brought ona condition so severe that her parents became alarmed about her andsought advice as to what should be done. 

An examination of her case brought out the fact that she had probablyinherited a predisposition to stammer, but that the immediate cause ofthe trouble had been fright, caused by a nurse who had tried todiscipline the girl when small, by telling her that the "bogey-man"would get her if she didn't do certain things as told. Thisdisciplining by means of fear is never a safe procedure and in thiscase had been carried to extremes on many occasions, finally resultingin the child becoming a stammerer. 

She had a case of Genuine Stammering in its second stage and, accordingto her own statement at the time the examination was made, had becomemuch worse in the last two years. At age 15 it seems that everyone feltsecure in the belief that her trouble would pass away, but at age 17, the condition became critical, the disorder having previously passedinto the second stage. 

Two and a half weeks worked a wonderful improvement in the girl'scondition, at the end of which time she was compelled to return to herhome on account of a death in the family. She remained at home foralmost a month, after which she returned to me to complete the cure. Even under such an unusual and unfavorable circumstance as this, sheremained with me the last time only four weeks, and has, according toher report, never stammered since, nor has she been oppressed by theoverpowering sense of fear that formerly seized her when she thought oftrying to talk. 

Case No. 84. 563--This case first came to my attention over ten yearsago, when I was called upon to make a diagnosis. This showed thetrouble to be a case of Combined Stammering and Stuttering, originallycaused, it seemed, from having associated with an old man who wasjanitor in a wood-working plant belonging to the father of the boywhose case I am describing. The janitor had stammered ever since anyoneabout the place had known him and probably all of his life. In hisearly days, with his youth to carry him on, he had tried to hold downseveral jobs of consequence, but with varying success, dropping downthe ladder rung by rung until he reached the place of janitor. The boyin question, having associated with the old man, early acquired thehabit of mocking his defective speech, with the result that he himselfsoon began to stutter, which later turned into a combined form ofdisorder known as Combined Stammering and Stuttering. 

He came to me at the time he was 28, having found it necessary to go towork on his own account, upon the failure of his father's business. Iexplained to him that his was a case of Combined Stammering andStuttering, outlined to him the probable course of his trouble and whathe might reasonably expect if he allowed it to continue. Having beenmarried only a short time and being rather reluctant to leave home forthe length of time necessary to take the course, he decided to postponetreatment until some later date. I heard nothing more from him foralmost three years, when he walked in one day, looking like a shadow ofhis former self. There were dark rings around his eyes, his gaze wasshifty and I could hardly believe that this was the young fellow whohad seen me three years ago. Nevertheless it was the same man, with astory that pointed out the danger of postponement. His trouble hadbecome steadily worse, he said, until it had ruined his control overhimself. He had become nervous, irritable and cross, without meaning tobe so, had lost one good position after another and finally, as aclimax to a long string of misfortunes, his wife had left him, declaring that she would not put up with him in such a condition. 

A second examination revealed the fact that his stammering hadprogressed so rapidly since he had last talked with me, that it was nowperilously near the stage known as Thought Lapse. His control was notentirely shattered, however, and he was accepted for treatment. It wassomething over two months before he was back in shape again, but thosetwo months did a wonderful thing for him, for it put him in first-classphysical condition, removed all traces of his impediment and restoredthe mental equilibrium which had been so long endangered. Later, as aresult of his restoration to perfect speech, his family differenceswere adjusted, and at the last reports, he was making splendid headwayin a business of his own. Such is the power of stammering todestroy--even home and happiness itself--and such the power of perfectspeech to build up again. 

Case No. 465. 722--This was the case of a man born in Ireland, who cameto this country as a boy, and the original cause of whose trouble was ablow over the head in a street fight soon after landing in America. 

When he came to me, he was 52 years of age and not only had one of themost severe cases of Spasmodic Stammering I have ever seen, but was inthe first stages of Thought Lapse. He was practically speechless all ofthe time and his trouble instead of manifesting an IntermittentTendency as it had formerly done, was now constant, indicating that hewas in the chronic stage of his difficulty. Aside from his SpasmodicStammering, he seemed unable to think of the things which he wished tosay. In other words, his trouble had been affecting him so long that hehad lost the power to recall and control the mental images necessary tothe formation of words. 

I not only gave him the usual examination but applied the special Boguetest, both of which convinced me that his case was far into theincurable stage. There was little or nothing I could do for him at thatlate date and so I told him. He acted as if dazed for a few moments, and when the full force of the truth dawned upon him, it was as if acord had snapped and broken. Hope was gone. He was an incurable--andknew it now, only too well. And as he turned and left me, I knew fromthe droop of the shoulders and the hang of the head, that life meantbut little to him now. He was merely waiting--waiting for the last pageto be written and his book of despair to be closed. 

Case No. 34. 444--This young woman was very talented, had a beautifulsinging voice and could not understand why she was unable to speakfluently when she could sing so well. The cause of her trouble wasdistinctly mental and did not lie in any defective formation of thevocal organs but rather in a lack of co-ordination between the brainand the muscles of speech. In her case, the speech disorder had notmaterially affected her health, although she admitted it had impairedher power of will and her ability to concentrate. Six weeks put her ingood condition and gave her the opportunity to use her beautiful voiceto excellent advantage in speaking as well as in singing--much to hersatisfaction. 

Case No. 667. 788--This man came to me for assistance and relief from asevere case of Combined Stammering and Stuttering. He shook like a leafwhen he talked, was very nervous, and could hardly sit still. Hisspeech was marked by loose and hurried repetitions of syllables andwords, alternating with a slow and seemingly dazed repetition of words, as though he did not know what he was saying. 

In a few moments, I learned that he was a habitual alcoholic, that hewas acquainted with the Delirium Tremens and that he frequently wentupon sprees lasting a week, which left him a physical wreck. He had nobackbone, there was no foundation to build on and his case was declinedas incurable, not altogether from the condition of his speech, butbecause it is useless and hopeless to attempt treatment of thestammerer who is also a chronic dissipator. 

Case No. 34. 343--This was the case of a young man who came to me at theage of 17. He was one of the type that "seldom stammer. " He explainedthis to me and told me that many of his friends were not aware of thefact that he stammered. 

I gave him an examination and found his trouble to be a case ofCombined Stammering and Stuttering in the second stage. He was of theIntermittent Type and at intervals his trouble became very bad, atwhich times he made it a point not to go out among his friends--one ofthe reasons which made it possible for him to say that his friends didnot know of his speech trouble. 

This young man came to me hoping that I would tell him that his troublewas not severe and that he would outgrow it in a few years. I was ableto tell him that at the time his case was not an extremely bad one, butI knew that instead of being outgrown it would become ingrown, and I sotold him. 

But he decided to postpone action until some later date, feeling sure, despite what I had told him, that he would outgrow his stammering. 

Four and a half years later, he came back. This time he did not saythat his friends knew nothing of his trouble. He was in bad condition, his "seldom stammering, " as he had called it, was chronic now and thepainful expression on his face when he tried to talk was ample proof ofthe condition in which he had allowed himself to get. His trouble hadpassed into Genuine Stammering and was of a very severe nature. Therewas no thought of postponement in his mind at this time and he placedhimself for treatment immediately. Eight weeks' time saw his workcompleted, with excellent results. His fear was gone, his confidencerenewed and his health greatly improved, in addition to being able totalk fluently. 

Case No. 66. 788--Here was the case of a man of 30, a preacher, whofound no difficulty in preaching to his congregation, from the pulpit, but whose trouble immediately got the best of him the moment he wentdown into the church and attempted to carry on a conversationindividually. This became so embarrassing to him that he finally gaveup the idea of passing through his congregation, but satisfied himselfwith standing at the door and greeting them as they passed out. This, too, he was later compelled to give up on account of his speech, although during none of this time did he have the slightest trouble indelivering his sermons. 

His was a case of Genuine Stammering. The mental control when he was inthe pulpit was almost normal. Talking to individuals, this control wasquickly shattered. He placed himself for treatment after having secureda brother-pastor to fill his place for two months. He was a goodstudent, obedient to instruction, concentrating on his work with acreditable energy. As a result, in five weeks' time, he found himselfable to talk to anybody under any condition without the slighteststicking or fear. He could talk over the telephone and was master ofhimself under the cross-fire of conversation which in his previousstate had bothered him so seriously. 

Case No. 48. 336--This is a case that represents a very common type ofCombined Stammering and Stuttering, and a type that is not so quicklycured as might be imagined. This was a young man of 18, who not onlystammered but stuttered. His speech disorder, however, was furthercomplicated by a bad habit of prefixing a totally foreign word or soundto the word or sound which he found it difficult to pronounce. "B" wasone of his hard sounds and in speaking the sentence: "We expect toleave Baltimore, " he would say: "We expect to leaveah--ah--ah--Baltimore. "

The fear of failure which caused him to acquire this habit of speaking, led his friends often to think that his mind wandered, although as amatter of fact, he was a very bright young fellow, without a singleindication of Thought Lapse. 

I diagnosed his case as Combined Stammering and Stuttering, andexplained to him that he represented a type of stammering that might becalled the "Prefix Stammerer" because of their habit of prefixing everyhard sound with an easy word or an easy sound, even to the extent oflosing the sense of the sentence--so great is the "Prefix Stammerer's"fear of failure. 

He placed himself for treatment, and although his trouble wascomplicated by this prefixing habit, seven weeks put him in good shape. He forgot his fear of failure, found every word an easy word and everysound an easy sound. He learned to talk fluently again and returned tohis home, both physically and mentally improved. 

Case No. 98. 656--This was the case of a rather arrogant young man froma good family, who was too proud to admit that he was a stammerer. Rather it should be said, he was too foolish to admit it. He waswell-educated and with the store of words at his command, succeeded forsome years in concealing the fact that he stammered. This heaccomplished by the substitution of words. That is, words beginningwith those letters that he could not utter were not used. If hissentence included such a word, he quickly substituted another word ofsomewhat similar meaning, but beginning with a letter that he couldpronounce correctly. This substitution of words was so well done thatfor some time it was scarcely noticeable to the average listener. Oftenhe found himself incorrectly understood, because of his inability touse the right word in the right place, but nevertheless he wassuccessful in concealing his speech defect from many of his friends. 

This case is of a type known as the "Synonym Stammerer" becausesynonyms are used to avoid stammering. The mental strain of tryingalways to substitute easy words for hard ones, was very great, however, and after a few years' practice, the strain began to tell on the youngman. It affected his health and made him nervous and irritable. 

It was at this time that he came to me. Genuine Stammering was histrouble, and so it was diagnosed. He refused to admit that he had asevere case, although the truth of the matter was, he did stammer badlyand the mental power which had sustained him in his attempts to speak, was being steadily weakened by what we might term misuse. 

He placed himself for treatment, although in a frame of mind that didnot augur well for his success, but by the end of the third day hismental attitude had entirely changed, he came to realize the immensedifference between being able to speak fluently and naturally and beingcompelled to substitute synonyms. From that day forth he was one of mybest students. His education stood him in good stead, his enthusiasmwas so spontaneous as to be contagious and at the end of four and ahalf weeks, he departed, as thoroughly changed for the better as anyonecould wish. The arrogance was gone. In its place was somethingbetter--a sure-footed confidence in his ability to talk--and this was aconfidence based on real ability--not on bluff. He was no longernervous and irritable--and in fact, before leaving, he had won his wayinto the hearts of his associates to the extent that all were sorrywhen he left and felt that they had made the acquaintance of a youngman of remarkable power. 

Five years later, I met him in New York, quite by accident. He was incharge of his father's business, had made a wonderful success of hiswork and was universally respected and admired by those who knew him. Even to this young man, who to many would have seemed to have all thathe could desire, freedom of speech opened new and greater opportunities. 

If I had the space to do so within the covers of one volume, I wouldgladly give many more cases, with description and diagnosis as well asresults of treatment. Specific cases are always interesting, illuminating and conclusive. They show theory in practice and opinionsbacked by actual results. 

But lack of space makes it impossible to give additional cases here. Those which have been given are typical cases--not the unusual ones. The out-of-the-ordinary cases have been avoided and the common typesdwelt upon with the idea of "giving the greatest good to the greatestnumber. "

Every reader of this volume who lives today under the constant handicapof a speech disorder, may well take new hope from the thought that"What man hath done, man can do"--again!

PART IV

SETTING THE TONGUE FREE

CHAPTER I

THE JOY OF PERFECT SPEECH

If you stammer--if you are afraid to try to talk for fear you willfail--if you are nervous, self-conscious and retiring because of yourstammering--then you don't realize the Magic Power of Perfect Speech. You don't realize what perfect speech will mean to you. Listen tothis--from a young woman who stammered--who was cured--and who knows:

"The most wonderful thing has happened to me. What do you think it is!I have been cured of stammering. You have no idea how different it isto be able to talk. I just feel like I could fly I'm so happy. Justthink, I can talk I'm so glad, so glad, so glad, it's over. I just feellike jumping up and down and shouting and telling everybody about it. Inever was so happy in my life--I never was so glad about anything as Iam about this. "

That is the way she feels after being entirely freed from herstammering--after learning to talk freely and fluently withoutdifficulty, hesitation or fear-of-failure. 

And here are the words of a young man who has just found his speech:"The Bogue Cure is marvelous. It is just like making a blind man see. It is remarkable. The sensation of being able to talk after stammeringfor twenty-five years is wonderful. "

And another young woman--this time from Missouri:

"That six weeks was the beginning of life for me. All my life I havehad a dread of trying to speak which made life most unpleasant. I donot have it now--I love to meet people. "

The joy of perfect speech:

The wonderful exhilaration of being able to say anything you want tosay whenever you want to say, to whomsoever you desire to speak. 

"I can talk"--that sums it all up. With that assurance comes thefeeling of the innocent man freed from a long term in prison--the senseof completeness and wholeness and ability, the feeling that you areequal to others in every way, that you can compete with them and talkwith them and associate with them on a plane of equality. 

Such is the Joy of Perfect Speech!!

To know that the haunting fear is gone--that the shackles have fallenaway, the chains are broken. 

To know that you are free--delivered from bondage. 

What a feeling--what a sensation--

Living itself is worth-while. Life means more. The sun shines brighter, the grass is greener, the flowers are more beautiful while friends andrelatives seem closer, kinder and dearer than ever before. 

The Joy of Perfect Speech!

No words can paint the picture, no tongue describe the lofty feeling ofelation which crowns the man or woman or boy or girl who has stammeredand has been set free. 

CHAPTER II

HOW TO DETERMINE WHETHER YOU CAN BE CURED

You can either be cured of your trouble--or you cannot. If you can, whyshould you go about hesitating, stumbling, sticking, stammering andstuttering?

Why should you deny yourself the privileges of society, the advantagesof opportunity, the fruits of success--if you can be completely andpermanently cured of the trouble which handicaps you and holds you back?

Why should you live a HALF LIFE as a stammerer, if you can be cured andlive the complete, joyous, happy, overflowing life?

Why should you be content with failure or half-success if thetriumphant power to accomplish, the masterful will to succeed is rightwithin your grasp?

Why should you continue to stammer if you can be cured?

The answer is, YOU SHOULD NOT. 

The first step, therefore, is to determine definitely and accuratelywhether you are in a curable stage of your trouble and whether you canbe completely and permanently cured. 

These things you cannot determine for yourself. You have no facilitiesfor determining the facts. You lack the scientific knowledge upon whichsuch conclusions must be based. You cannot diagnose your case ofstammering any more than you could accurately diagnose a highly complexnervous disease. In order, therefore, that the most important of allquestions, viz. : "Can I be Cured?" may be correctly and authoritativelyanswered, I am willing to diagnose your case and give you a typewrittenreport of your condition, telling you whether or not you are still in acurable stage. 

It goes without saying that this diagnosis must be based upon adescription of the case in question. This description must be accurateand reliable as well as thorough. In order to insure this, I furnishwith each book a Diagnosis Blank, which when properly filled out, givesme the information necessary to determine the durability of the case, as well as to furnish much other valuable information about theindividual's condition. 

In no case, will I undertake to pass on the curability of the stammererwithout a diagnosis first being made. You want the opinion which I giveyou to be authoritative and dependable--a report in which you can placeyour entire confidence. I cannot give such a report by merely hazardinga guess as to your condition. I must base my report on the actual factsas they exist. I must make a careful study of your symptoms, determinewhat your peculiar combination of symptoms indicates, find out thenature of your trouble, determine its severity. 

When you have returned the blank--and when I have furnished you withthe diagnosis of your case, you can depend upon it to be accurate, authoritative, definite and positive. It will give you the plain factsabout your trouble--be those facts good or bad. 

CHAPTER III

THE BOGUE GUARANTEE AND WHAT IT MEANS

No matter what caused your stammering, no matter how old you are, howlong you have stammered, how many times you have tried to be cured--nomatter what you think about your case or whether you believe it to becurable--if I have diagnosed your trouble and pronounced it curable, then I can cure YOU. 

By the application of the Bogue Unit Method, I can eradicate the causeof your trouble at its very source, and re-establish normalco-ordination between your brain and the muscles of speech, removingevery trace of that "mental expectancy" which you call"fear-of-failure. "

I can show you how to place your articulation under perfect control, how to make the formation of words an easy process involving noapparent mental effort or noticeable physical exertion. 

I can teach you how to produce any sound or combination of sounds, howto make every word an easy word and every sound an easy sound. 

I can show you how to talk without stammering--how to talk just asfreely and fluently as any normal person who has never stammered. 

I not only claim to be able to do this for you, I back it up with apast record of success in treating hundreds of cases similar to yourown. Like cures like. What has cured others like you, will cure YOU. But I don't ask you to risk a single penny upon even that evidence andproof. The moment you enroll in the Bogue Institute, I will issue toyou and place in your hands, a written Guarantee Certificate, over myown signature, binding me to cure you of stammering or refund everycent of the money which you have paid me for tuition fee, and askingyou only to follow the easy instructions given under the Bogue UnitMethod. 

You are to be the sole judge as to whether or not you followinstructions. 

I will leave it entirely to you to decide. All I ask of you is fullopportunity to do my best for you and absolute honesty, such as youexpect and will receive from me. 

I want to be absolutely fair with you--I want to cure you as I havecured myself and hundreds of other stammerers. I do not want a dollarof your money unless I have given you a dollar's worth of benefit inreturn. I would not keep a penny of the money that you might have paidme for cure of your stammering unless I had actually cured you, provided, of course, that you had followed the instructions whichanybody of ordinary intelligence over eight years of age can easilyfollow. 

I have no fear of your dealing dishonestly with me. I know enough abouthuman nature to know that all you want is to be cured--and youunderstand that to be cured you must co-operate with me to that end. Ican cure your stammering only with your co-operation--just as a musicteacher can make a pianist of you only with your co-operative andsincere effort. Therefore, I ask only that you follow my instructionscarefully and faithfully--and I guarantee to bestow upon you the samegift of Perfect Speech that I have bestowed upon hundreds of now-happymen and women--and I put that guarantee in writing over my personalsignature. 

CHAPTER IV

THE CURE IS PERMANENT

No one who stammers should put any faith in a cure for his troubleunless the results are known to be permanent. A temporary cure is nocure at all and should be avoided, for it is merely a means of wastingmoney. 

The Bogue Unit Method brings about not only a complete but a permanentcure. The secret of its success as far as permanency is concerned, liesin the fact that the basic cause of the trouble is removed at its verysource, the wrong methods rooted out and the correct methods installedin their place. 

Once this process is completed and the cure effected, the cure ispermanently insured, because its very cause is gone. You cannot stammerwithout a cause--everyone understands that. 

The proof of the permanency of the cure is attested by the many lettersfrom those who were here ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. A woman curedat the Institute ten years ago writes:

"At 14 I was a very bad stammerer. I then attended the Bogue Institute, where I was completely cured in a few weeks. I then secured a positionas saleslady in one of our leading stores where I have been called uponto handle as many as one hundred sales in a single day. I have neverstammered once. My cure has been absolutely perfect for the past tenyears. It was certainly a lucky day that I walked into Mr. Bogue'soffice the first time. "

Another excellent proof of the permanency of the cure, is thesubjection of the cured student to tremendous mental and nervousstrain. Many of our former students were in the Great War, numbers ofthem right up in the front line where the fighting was stiffest andwhere the nervous and mental strain was terrific. Even under this test(which was enough to make a normal person become a stammerer--and manyof them did) the results of the Bogue Unit Method held them to normalspeech. One young man writes:

"I completely regained my speech at the Bogue Institute in 1915. Ienlisted in the army and was sent overseas in the spring of '18, andwent through some of the hardest fighting the 42nd Division was in, that being the Division I was transferred to, and am happy to say thespeech trouble has never come back on me. I was wounded by a fragmentof high explosive shell. One hit me under the right arm, fracturing tworibs. Another struck my shoulder and a piece ranged downward into myright lung, which now remains there. I developed tuberculosis inNovember, in all probability from exposure as much as the wound. I wasevacuated to the U. S. Early last winter and sent to this place, where Iam rapidly regaining my health and expect to be discharged aboutSeptember 1st. 

"With all the hard experience I went through, stammering did not comeback to me. I have never regretted the time I spent with yourInstitute, and I have only the highest words of praise for the workbeing done in the Bogue Institute. "

Another severe test of a cure of stammering is an illness such as mayhave brought the trouble on in the first place. If the stammerer, forinstance, can undergo an attack of influenza or pneumonia and come outof it without difficulty, it proves beyond all question of a doubt thatthe cure is permanent. 

For that reason, I wish to quote the letter of an Illinois boy who says:

"I am getting along fine with my speech. I am sure I will never stammeragain. I was sick the week after Christmas with pneumonia but it didnot bother me a bit. "

Another young man says:

"It is now nearly six months since I left the Institute and in thattime I have not stammered a word. What do you think about that? Itsurely is fine. But you know that. I was in Chicago last week andvisited friends and saw a doctor friend of mine who did not know that Ihad been away, so he just stood there and looked at me, and said, 'Youare talking fine. How did you learn that?'

"I told him and then talked to him for four hours and he said it wasthe best thing that had ever happened to me. " Another letter, this timefrom Honolulu and from a man who attended the Institute a number ofyears ago, says:

"Just to let you know that I am still alive and enjoying life as Inever have before. I have forgotten that I ever stammered. Sincerethanks to you. "

This young man is now an engineer in the employ of the United ShippingBoard. 

These letters give the answer better than I can--better than anyscientist can because they tell the real truth taken from theexperience of those who have tried and know--

First--That stammering can be cured by the Bogue Unit Method!

Second--That the cure is a permanent cure!

CHAPTER V

A PRICELESS GIFT--AN EVERLASTING INVESTMENT

There is no gift that can take the place of perfect speech. It isbeyond price--and the person who talks after stammering would give allhis possessions to keep from going back again to stammering. 

But Freedom-of-Speech is more than a priceless gift--it is a wonderfulinvestment. Should you ask: "Does it pay to be cured of stammering?"the answer could be nothing but "Yes"--and there is evidence aplenty toprove it. 

One young man writes:

"I have never enjoyed life as I have since I left the Institute, bothin a business and social way. I am to get a 25% increase in my salarythe first of the month, which is at least partially due to my wonderfulperfection of speech. "

Does it pay--? Does a 25 per cent. Increase in salary pay? Here is thecase of a young woman who was about to lose her position because of herimperfection in speech--yet when she returned home after being cured atthe Institute, she wrote:

"I was very much surprised when I went down to the office yesterday tofind that I was going to get my place back again. This evening, Mr. --told me that I was to get a 33 1/3% raise at the end of next week, so my stay with you has already begun to pay dividends. "

Freedom-from-Stammering PAYS--in dollars and cents. On a cold businessbasis, it is one of the best investments to be made. One man whoattended here a few years ago was a fireman in a large factory, stokingboilers all day long. Today he is salesman--and the head salesman atthat--for the same firm--he makes as much as the President of the firm. He works on commission--and he knows how to talk so as to sell. 

Another man was section foreman when he took his course at the BogueInstitute. Today he is manager of one of a great chain of big retailstores and makes more in one day than he used to make in two weeks. 

Another case is that of a young man from New York State, who gave uphis position to come to the Bogue Institute and be free fromstammering. Six weeks later he went home. Like the other young manmentioned above, he met with a success--surprise--he was re-employed byhis old employers--and he, too, was given a 25 per cent. Increase insalary. 

So, you see, freedom from stammering pays--pays splendidly andcontinuously for all the rest of your life. It pays in satisfaction, incontentment, in happiness and ability to associate with others on aplane of speech-equality. 

It pays in better salaries and bigger earning power--in opportunitiesopened and chances made possible to you that are closed to the one whostammers. 

The world's successful men and women do not stammer. The happy, contented people do not stammer. The money-makers do not stumble andstick and stutter when they talk. 

To be successful you must know how to talk. If you stammer today, makeyour plans to get out from under the handicap--remember that it willpay you and pay you well. 

CHAPTER VI

THE HOME OF PERFECT SPEECH

The Bogue Institute of Indianapolis is truly the home of perfectspeech. For in no other place can be found the things that are foundhere. Nowhere else is there that silent sympathy with the moods of theone who stammers. Nowhere else is there that home-like atmosphere, thatall-pervading spirit of helpfulness and cheerfulness and good-will. 

No matter how discouraged the stammerer may be, no matter how tired ornervous or self-conscious--no matter how shy or shrinking from the gazeof others--no matter how timid or filled-with-fear the mind, theattitude begins to change within an hour after his arrival. 

For this is the home of perfect speech. Success is in the air. Everystep I take counteracts the tendency to fear and worry and strain. Iknow what the stammerer needs. I know the things that need to be doneto quiet the hyper-nervous case. I know what to do to banish thatintense self-consciousness and make the student self-forgetful. Thesethings have been learned by experience. And these gained-by-experiencemethods start the student in the right way from the very first hour. 

Pupils Are Met at the Train: We are glad to meet pupils at the UnionStation, where all trains over steam roads arrive, if the studentinforms us beforehand (either by letter or telegram) the road overwhich he is coming and the time he will arrive in this city. There isno charge for this, it being merely a part of the courtesy extended tostudents who are unfamiliar with the location of the Institute. A smallbow of blue ribbon should be worn as a means of identification. 

When You Arrive: If you have not written or telegraphed us to meet youat the railway station, as soon as you arrive go to the telephone boothand call the Bogue Institute and a representative of the institute willbe sent for you promptly. 

Your Baggage: The transfer of baggage from the station to the Institutewill be attended to by our office. The Baggage Transfer makes regulartrips to the Institute for the purpose of looking after the baggage ofnew students as well as those who have completed the course and areleaving for home. 

Entrance Requirements: It is necessary that every student entering theInstitute be of normal intelligence and at least eight years of age. Every student must also be of good moral character and must be able tospeak the English language sufficiently well to take the instruction. When a stammerer has been cured in one language, however, he is curedin all languages. Rich and poor are here treated with equal kindness, courtesy and respect. We believe in those who are here to be cured, regardless of their station in life, and we believe in helping themaccomplish that purpose in as short a time as is consistent with theresults which they desire. 

Grounds and Buildings: The Institute Building and Dormitory stand in alarge lot, ideally located, in a desirable residential neighborhoodaway from the dirt, dust, noise and clamor of the city and yet not sofar out as to be in the least removed from the city's activities. 

Board and Room for Students: The Institute maintains its own Dormitoryand Boarding Department under the direct and immediate supervision ofthe Institute authorities. To the right of the Main Dormitory Buildingas you enter will be found the Dormitory for girls and women, while onthe left are located the General Offices and the Dormitory for boys andmen. Every facility has been provided for the comfort and happiness ofour pupils while at the Institute. Room, board, heat, light, hot andcold baths and all other comforts and conveniences are provided. 

Sleeping Rooms: The pupils' sleeping rooms and apartments are large, well-lighted, and well-ventilated. They are comfortable both summer andwinter, ample facilities being provided to heat the entire buildingcomfortably at all times. 

All of the sleeping rooms as well as the entire Dormitory andclass-room are lighted with electricity. Each room contains furnishingsnecessary to make the room comfortable and home-like. Bath and facetowels are furnished without extra cost, as is all necessary beddingand linen. Commodious and spacious bathrooms, with running water, andmodern equipment are furnished for the exclusive use of pupils. 

Dining Room: Two large, airy and well-ventilated dining rooms arelocated in the Main Dormitory Building. Here are served all meals, madeup in the most appetizing manner--wholesome menus planned for thespecial needs of the type of students who come here. There is nodieting, but meals are carefully balanced and highly seasoned dishes orinjurious food combinations are eliminated. 

Every meal is prepared under the direct supervision of an experiencedchef. Under this direction our pupils are served with some of the mostdelicious and healthful viands which can be put together--all of whichis evidenced by the students' enthusiastic approbation of the Institutetable fare. 

Scrupulous Cleanliness: Every part of the Institute Buildings is keptscrupulously clean--every day in the year. In this respect the BogueInstitute surpasses many of the best hotels. 

Library: The leading papers and magazines are constantly available andwe encourage students to keep in touch with the world of events byregular reading. 

How the Time is Spent: The order of the day is as follows:

 6:30 AM. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Arise 7 to 8 AM. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Breakfast 8 to 9 AM. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Special Study 9 to 11 AM. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Morning Treatment Period 11 to 12 AM. .. . Progress Tests, Special Examination and Personal Instruction 12 to 2 PM. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Luncheon Period 2 to 4 PM. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Class Instruction 4 to 6 PM. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Recreation 6 PM. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . Dinner 8 PM. .. .. .. .. Children's Junior Class Retiring Hour 9 PM. .. .. .. .. Children's Senior Class Retiring Hour 10 PM. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Adults' Last Retiring Hour

There are no classes on Saturday afternoon nor on Sundays or holidays. There are no evening or night classes at any time and no student mayenroll who is not in a position to devote all the needed time to thepursuit of the work. There is no part-time course, permitting thestudent to work or go to public or high school while attending theBogue Institute. The work here is too important to become a"side-issue. " We insist that it be the student's regular and onlyabsorbing activity. 

LECTURES: From time to time during the year, open lectures are given bymyself and assistant instructors dealing with the fundamentals ofspeech or kindred subjects aimed to make for the students' rapidprogress. These lectures are important and must be attended by everystudent. 

A CAREFULLY-PLANNED COURSE: Every step of the student's course from thetime of arising in the morning to the time of retiring at night, isplanned for the best results. Experience has taught us what is best andthe day's program is built upon the lines of greatest progress in agiven time. There are no haphazard steps in this program--each activityaccomplishes a desirable and necessary result. These are the thingsthat make for sure and rapid success--and which insure that every dayshall show progress over the day before. 

In the work of the Bogue Institute every student's course is under mydirect and personal supervision and direction. I am, of course, necessarily aided by assistant instructors, each of whom was selectedwith especial reference to his fitness for the work which is entrustedto him. 

Every Teacher is a Specialist: Each one is a specialist--a master, backed not only by a thorough experience in the Bogue Institute, butalso having served an extended apprenticeship under my personalinstruction. 

Every specialist responsible for any department of our instruction mustmeet certain rigid qualifications. First, they must be well-educated, refined and of the best character. They must understand the stammerer'sdifficulty from a moral and mental standpoint as well as from atechnical standpoint. They must maintain a naturally sympathetic, cheerful and helpful frame of mind at all times and must be able toprove that the training under my hand has thoroughly qualified them toserve the pupils of the Bogue Institute. 

The long period of training and apprenticeship, which has always beenan outstanding feature of our methods, could be done away with, shouldI desire to cheapen the instruction. Inexperienced instructors could beemployed for less than half the compensation of the experts I nowemploy--but these things could be sacrificed only at the expense ofresults. For many years the superiority of the Bogue Institute facultyhas been nationally recognized and this reputation we are todaymaintaining--and improving, where this is possible. 

CHAPTER VII

MY MOTHER AND THE HOME LIFE AT THE INSTITUTE

The home life at the Bogue Institute cannot be mentioned without alsomentioning my mother and the work she has done and is doing to makethis truly a home life. This is her work and she has succeeded. Sherepresents the pivotal point around which that home life turns and sheis the guiding spirit that makes the Institute a real home for thosewho come here. It is her beneficent smile that makes you feel at homewhen you arrive, her kindly influence which makes you feel at homeduring your whole stay and her smiling God-speed when you go, thatmakes you wish it were not time to leave. 

Under Mother Bogue's direction, the Institute is a busy, happy, cheerful and well-ordered home for the big and happy family that ithouses. 

Music is here for those who wish to play. Games and books and magazinesfor those who would thus entertain themselves and others. We areacquainted with the truth that "all work makes Jack a dull boy--andJill a dull girl"--and wholesome and worth-while amusements anddiversions are provided for all ages and all occasions. Theseamusements are for those who wish them--those who do not can alwaysfind rest and quiet in their own rooms. 

Rowdyism is absent. The hoodlum is not here. We find no difficulty inestablishing standards of conduct that become the lady and thegentleman--and the regulations that are in effect are based upon thebelief that those who come here can and will measure up to thesestandards. 

Unity of Purpose: One of the distinct advantages of the plan wherebyall students live in the Institute Dormitory is that all who are herehave come for a purpose and bear that thought in mind. The student whosits beside you at the table is here for the same purpose as yourself. You are both working for the same thing--working earnestly, enthusiastically, seriously--and withal, successfully--to be cured ofstammering. 

What does this mean?

It means that the very atmosphere of the Institute is saturated withenergy, enthusiasm and the spirit of successful endeavor. Determination, application, success--these things are in the very airyou breathe. The spirit that carries an army to victory is here--tocarry you to victory and success. 

Absolute Privacy in Treatment: There is absolutely no publicityconnected with the attendance of any student at the Institute. Manystudents have attended without even their families or friends beingaware of the fact. Others have come leaving behind the impression thatthey were visiting friends--which in truth, they were, as theyafterwards found those connected with the Institute to be sincere andworth-while friends, indeed. 

Even in carrying on correspondence regarding the course, no one needknow anything about your intentions, for upon no occasion does the nameof the Institute appear on the outside of any letter or packageaddressed to you. Only the name "BENJAMIN N. BOGUE" appears to identifythe letter. 

At no time will your name, address or any information about you inconnection with your name be published or discussed in any publicmanner whatsoever without your permission. 

Care of the Health: Every safeguard is thrown around the physicalwelfare of those attending the Institute. The location andextraordinary sanitary precautions almost preclude the possibility ofprotracted illness--this was evidenced by the startling fact thatduring the severe and nation-wide influenza epidemic of the fall andwinter of 1918-1919, not a single student of the Institute was takenill. This speaks wonders for the remarkable good physical condition ofthe many students who were here at that time. 

In the event, however, that a student does become ill, the InstituteHouse Physician is at once summoned and in the case of a child, thisphysician's opinion will be sent immediately to the parents. 

In illness as in health, the kindly, courteous and yet unobtrusiveservices of Mother Bogue are at the disposal of the student. Every careis bestowed, special meals provided and every want looked after withthe same pains as if the student were in his or her own home. 

Christian Influences: Indianapolis is a city of numerous beautifulchurches of all denominations, many of which are in the immediatevicinity of the Institute. During the entire stay, students aresurrounded by the very best moral and religious influences and eachSunday sees groups of students leaving the Institute to attend servicesat the different churches. 

Children Properly Cared For: Children placed in our care are givenspecial attention. As with the other students they are surrounded withthe most wholesome moral influences. Regulations provide that they mustremain inside the Institute grounds except during the proper hours ofthe day, following their regular work. It is a very frequent occurrenceto have parents bring their children with the idea of remaining withthem during the course, only to return home within a few days, leavingthe children with us, having satisfied themselves in that short timethat the children are being just as well cared for here as if they werein their own homes. 

Parents sometimes remark that children will get homesick and want to gohome, but our experience with hundreds of cases proves that it isusually the parent who gets homesick to see the child instead of thechild getting homesick to see the parents. The home-like surroundingsof the Institute and the care and attention which they are given, allowsmall opportunity for children to become homesick, especially when itis remembered that they are busy for the larger portion of the day, atwork which is to them of absorbing interest. In fact, we often findthat children make so many good friends that they are reluctant indeedwhen the time comes for them to return home. Many of our students cantestify that some of the finest friendships of their lives had theirbeginning here at the Bogue Institute. 

Care for Ladies: My lady-assistants, as well as Mother Bogue, will seeto the comfort and enjoyment of lady-pupils. Ladies have their owndormitories in a separate portion of the building and find their stay amost enjoyable one. 

A Reflection of Ideals: The congenial home-life at the Institute, theminute attention to the wants of the students, the care given to womenand children, the solicitude for those who are ill or who for anyreason need special attention--this is but the reflection of anideal--that ideal is to make the Bogue Institute, not only ininstruction and results, but in every way, just what I would have likedto have been able to find when I was searching for a cure forstammering, more than twenty-five years ago. The comforts, theconveniences, the atmosphere of helpfulness--these things allcontribute toward your quick and certain success--and that, I may say, is why we have them. 

THINGS YOU WANT TO KNOW

Deposit Surplus Money: As a matter of convenience to those who bringwith them extra money, we grant them the privilege of depositing it inour safe. Other valuables may be left for safe-keeping when desired. Ifthe students prefer, they may deposit money with one of the city banks. Pupils should not carry much money with them; they may lose it. 

Pupils' Mail: Relatives, friends and others addressing letters topersons in attendance at this Institute should address all mail tostudents: "c/o BENJ. N. BOGUE" to avoid delay in delivery. 

Foreign Students: It will be necessary for those who speak foreignlanguages to learn the English language before they will be admitted tothis Institute. The instruction is only given in English, but personsof all nationalities can be cured if they have the proper knowledge ofthe English language. When once cured in one language, persons arecured in all languages, however. 

Companions for Pupils: Parents, guardians or companions may accompanysmall children or others, when they wish to do so. It is entirelysatisfactory for those accompanying the pupil to be associated with thechildren during treatment. They may room together, if desired, or theymay secure adjoining rooms. 

When You Leave for Home: When necessary, we secure railroad tickets forour young pupils, check their baggage and place them safely aboard theproper train, when they leave Indianapolis for home, and otherwise takeespecial and careful interest in having them properly started homewardafter their stay with us. 

Rich and Poor Stand Equal: Claim is made that this is one of the mostcommendable features of the Institute. It is not so in all institutes. Fine clothes and freedom with money are not the test by which thestudent secures his standing, but by his earnest, faithful work andgentlemanly or lady-like conduct. It is inward worth, not outwardadornment and display of wealth, that wins friends and gives thestudent a place on our roll of honor. The student is judged by what heis, and not by what he has. 

Neglected Education: No one need hesitate to place himself under ourinstruction on account of neglected education or advanced age. Allembarrassments are carefully avoided. Scores of backward pupils, who donot even know how to read or write, enter every year, and are entirelyand permanently cured by the Unit Method. 

CHAPTER VIII

A HEART-TO-HEART TALK WITH PARENTS

If you are the mother or father of a child who stammers, you shouldfirst of all read Chapters IX to XIV, inclusive, in Part Two of thisbook. These chapters deal with the speech disorders of children frombefore the first spoken word up until the age of 21, when structurallyas well as legally the mind and body of the infant merge into that ofthe adult. 

No mother or father can understand their child's disorder withouthaving read these Chapters. To fail to understand is to multiply thechance for error in deciding what to do. Therefore, I repeat, if youare the mother or father of a boy or girl who stammers, read chapterson Child Stammering before you go further. 

There are three mistaken beliefs in the minds of many parents ofstammering children which must be rooted out before the child will havean opportunity to be cured of his trouble. 

These beliefs are:

 1--That the child will outgrow his trouble and therefore need only be permitted to "grow older, " at which tune the trouble will disappear. 2--That the child could stop stammering if he would try--that the trouble is but a malicious habit of the child's, which he could put away from him if he would. 3--That the child's trouble is incurable and that nothing can be done for him. 

All of these beliefs are entirely fallacious and based purely uponignorance of the cause and progress of the child's trouble. There isnot the slightest scientific foundation for them, they are not beliefsbased on facts or upon experience--yet in many homes, they constitutethe chief obstacle between the stammering child and his complete andpermanent cure. 

As long as you believe that your child will out-grow his or hertrouble, you take no steps to have the disorder eradicated. 

What happens?

The trouble becomes worse from month to month and from year to year, until in many cases where the "outgrowing belief" persists, the troublepasses into a chronic and incurable stage and the stammering childbecomes the stammering man or woman, condemned to go through life undera handicap almost too great to bear. 

Write it on your heart that your child will not outgrow his trouble. Ponder over the information given in the Chapters on Child Stammering. This is not hearsay or guess-work but facts gleaned from a lifetime ofexperience. 

If you, as the father or mother of a stammering child, cling to thesecond belief, that your child could stop stammering if he would try, then I can see from this distance that your child has stored up for himin the future, more than his due of misery. For as long as you believethat he can stop of his own free will, you will be impatient with himwhen he stammers. You will scold him and tell him to "stop that kind oftalking!" Thus you will irritate him, and bring to his heart thatsickening sensation that he is totally helpless in the grip of hisspeech disorder and yet--"Oh, why will they not understand?"

Like the first belief, this belief that the child could stop if hewanted to, is based upon ignorance. No mother or father who has everexperienced the sensation of fear that grips the heart of thestammering child when he tries to speak, will say that he could stop ifhe would. 

I say to you--and I want to emphasize this--that the first and foremostambition of your child who stammers, is to be free from it. Thegreatest day of his life will be the day when he can talk without thatfear, without sticking and stumbling and hesitating over his utterances. 

I say to you again--if that boy or girl of yours could stop theirstammering, he or she would stop it this very instant. They would neverstammer again--if they were endowed with the power to stop. But theyare not. That is the very seed of their trouble--their inability tocontrol the actions of the vocal organs so as to produce normal speech. They have lost the control of those organs and they cannot of their ownvolition re-establish that control. 

The third belief, that stammering cannot be cured, is so easilydemolished that I shall devote but little time to it. It, like allfalse beliefs, has its foundation in ignorance. The mother or fatherwho knows the facts, knows also that stammering can be cured. You maynot know whether your boy or girl can be cured, but you are offered away to find out--definitely and positively, by describing your child'scase on my Diagnosis Blank and returning it to me for a thoroughDiagnosis. 

Put your beliefs to one side--whatever they may be. You can get thefacts if you want them. You can learn the truth if you will. Truth isbetter than false beliefs and facts are better than superstition orhearsay, which in every case leads to misery, dejection and despair--aruined life where a successful, happy and contented life might havebeen--except for stammering. 

You have a well-defined responsibility to your son or daughter. Youhave a duty to perform--that is, to equip that boy or girl of yours togo out into the world as well equipped as any other boy or girl--andthat means equipped with perfect speech--without which they will be toogreatly handicapped to fully succeed. 

CHAPTER IX

THE DANGERS OF DELAY

In many of the cases which have come to my attention in the past manyyears, the stammerer or stutterer has been afflicted with a malady moredifficult to cure than stammering, viz. : The Habit of Procrastination. 

"Oh, I will wait a little while, " says the stammerer. "A little whilecan't make any difference!" And then the little while grows into a bigwhile and the big while grows into a year and the year grows into alifetime and he is still stammering. 

Several months ago, an old man, stooped in stature, care-worn ofcountenance and halting of step, presented himself to me for diagnosis. His face was drawn into long, hard lines. His eyes shifted from side toside, glancing furtively here and there. 

In his trembling hands was a worn old derby which he turned aboutnervously as he stood there talking. The nervousness, the trembling ofthe hands, the drawn face, the shifting eyes--all this was explained bythe story that this man told as he sat there beside the desk. 

"I fell from a ladder when I was ten years old, " he said. "After that, I always stammered. My parents thought it was a habit--I can rememberyet how my mother scolded me day after day and told me to 'quit talkingthat way. ' But it was useless to tell me to quit. I COULDN'T quit! If Icould have done it, certainly I WOULD, for having stammered yourself, you know what it means. 

"School now began to be a burden. I think I must have supplied fun forevery boy on the school grounds during recess-time, for if there was aboy who didn't make fun of me and mock me and laugh at me, then I don'tknow who he was. 

"Then one day I started back to school at noontime, saw a crowd of boyson the corner a couple of blocks away, thought of what a task it wouldbe to go into that crowd or try to pass it. A mortal and unreasoningfear came over me. Try as I would, I couldn't screw my courage up tothe point of going past that crowd. But I had small choice. It waseither go that way or stay out of school. And stay out of school I did. 

"And then came the crucial day. I could not ask my parents to vouch forany absence--I dared not tell them I was not there. So I went backwithout an excuse. The teacher was angry. She tried to get me to talk, but I could not say a word. So she sent me to the principal. She, too, asked me to explain. Try as I would, I couldn't get the first word out. Not a sound. 

"She, too, failed to understand. Result: I was expelled fromschool--sorry day--nobody seemed to understand my trouble--nobodyseemed to sympathize with me--a stammerer. 

"Although I pretended to be at school, before the week was out, myparents found out. Then a storm ensued. I tried to tell them the truth. They wouldn't listen. Father stormed and mother scolded. There seemedto be no living for me there. So I ran away from home--ran away becausemy parents wouldn't listen--because they wouldn't try to understand. 

"Then my troubles began in real earnest. I won't worry you with thedetails. I got a job--lost it. Got another--lost that. How many timesthat story was repeated I do not know. And remember--I was but a boy!"

Here the old man stopped, his head dropped, his unkempt beard brushedthe front of a tattered shirt, that had seen its day. He seemed lost inthought--he was living again those days and those nights when he hadwandered an outcast from the world. He was living over a lifetime in amoment. 

He sat there several moments--thoughts far away. Then he raised hishead and there was a tear in the corner of his eye as he said, "But whyshould I go on? Look at me. See WHERE I am. See WHAT I am. You wouldthink I am over 70--I am not yet 50. But it is too late to do any good. Here I am homeless, friendless, almost penniless. Nobody cares whathappens. Nobody would notice if anything should happen. Nobody has ajob for me--a stammerer. If I could talk, I could work. If I couldtalk--Oh, but why tell it again? It is too late now--too late to do anygood!!"

He was right. It was too late. Too late, indeed. 

This man was one of the Too-Laters--one of the Put-It-Offs, one of theProcrastinators. His might be called the story of the Man Who Waited. 

First, his parents refused to listen. His teachers, even, failed tounderstand his trouble. And when he got out in the world he put it off, this matter of being cured of stammering. He Waited! He kept saying tohimself that he would do it tomorrow--next week--next month. Andtomorrow never came. Next week and next month ran into next year--andnext year ran into a case that was hopeless and incurable. 

He Waited!! How tragic those two words. He Waited! And his waitingsounded the death-knell of a thousand boyhood hopes. HE WAITED!! Andhealth slowly took wings and flew away. HE WAITED!! And the insidiouslittle Devil-of-Fear piece by piece tore down his will-power, sappedhis power-of-concentration. HE WAITED!! And that first simple nervouscondition turned into something near akin to palsy. 

On the tombstone of that man when they lay him under hissix-feet-of-earth, they might truly inscribe the words: "AFailure"--and should they wish to set down the reason, they might add:"He Waited!"

To the stammerer's question: "When should I begin treatment for mystammering?" and "At what stage will I stand the best chance of beingmost quickly cured?" there is but one answer. The time for thestammerer or stutterer to begin treatment for his malady is the day hediscovers his stammering or stuttering. The best chance for beingquickly cured exists today. 

The stammerer, then, to paraphrase Emerson, should "Write it on hisheart that TODAY is the very best day in the year. " He should rememberthat indecision, delay, uncertainty, vacillation, lead to oblivion andthat his only redemption lies in that golden opportunity knownas--TODAY!