Our plans for this year (1918) are practically the same as for last excepting that we have more special teachers and will be able to reach a greater number of schools and give more time to individual cases.... During the school year of 1916-17, we had under instruction 107 children and obtained the following results:
| Normal | Almost Normal | Improved | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stuttering | 8 | 10 | 18 | 36 |
| Organic Lisping | 12 | 4 | 3 | 19 |
| Negligent Lisping | 24 | 5 | 29 | |
| Neurotic Lisping | 3 | 4 | 5 | 12 |
| Nasality | 3 | 3 | ||
| Miscellaneous | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Indistinct | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 55 | 25 | 27 | 107 |
This year we will have under instruction of our special teachers about 250 children, and in addition to this we hope to work for correction and prevention of speech-defects in general by giving instruction in voice culture and corrective phonetics to all of the children of the primary grades. This work will be done by the grade teachers under the supervision of the speech department.[4]
The Problem
A person with a slight impediment in his speech, due probably to some minor organic disorder, could be much helped by the average teacher, if the latter would give this subject of speech serious consideration. Of course there are cases where, from birth, the child’s speech organs have been impaired, and again, disease or some surgical operation may have caused interference with their proper functioning. In such cases as these a speech specialist is needed and often medical aid as well.
We do not presume to suggest with any degree of authority just what to do and what not to do in such extremities, but rather to present a few fundamental and tried principles which have proved successful in many cases. There are two classes whose speech defects are due to some mental cause—the Stammerers and the Stutterers.
Characteristics of the Stammerer
The stammerer finds it extremely difficult to begin to make any audible vocal sound. He stares blankly at you with a very slight, if any, suggestion that he is trying to speak. For the time being he is a mute, with no power to speak, and yet with every means of speaking. This is a pitiful condition in which to be.
The next stage finds the stammerer able, after a snapping of his fingers, or bending of his knees, or lifting up of a foot, or swinging his arms, or after some similar bodily action, to speak along smoothly with no suggestion of an impediment for a considerable period of time, after which he again lapses into silence. The following characteristics are common to most stammerers: