10. He usually possesses splendid courage and high ideals, which too often are destroyed because he cannot accomplish them with this weight of halting speech about his neck.
The Stutterer
The stutterer, unlike the stammerer, is able to make an audible sound at will. His difficulty lies in his inability to say more than one sound until he has repeated the initial sound from six to fifteen times. It seems that he must get up a certain amount of speech momentum: “B-b-b-bring me th-th-th-that b-b-b-book.” Or, “W-w-w-well, I think it is a v-v-v-very fine day.”
In a large measure the causes of stuttering and stammering are identical. Stammering is stuttering in the superlative degree. What is true of the stammerer is also true of the stutterer, with the exception that the stutterer is less melancholy, and less conscious of his defect.
For both, or either, practice in simple exercises is very necessary, but before specific training is given, the defective should be interviewed concerning his health. If a boy or girl is not given sufficient food and proper food (and such is often the case), there is small chance for speech improvement. Oftentimes it is found that these speech delinquents are playing too hard and wasting the nervous energy which should be utilized in mastering their vocal impediment.
The most successful way of handling these problems is to have the defectives placed in separate classes according to their particular needs and ages. Then get a physician’s diagnosis of each individual case. This diagnosis generally gives the special teacher the knowledge necessary for intelligent correction. The teacher must be patient, gentle, sympathetic and yet determined. She herself must possess ease and real enjoyment in speaking.
Practice Exercises
1. Speech defectives must first learn how to relax. They should spend at least ten minutes daily at home lying flat on their backs concentrating the mind on separate parts until the whole body is completely relaxed. This relaxation exercise can and should be carried on daily. At school, a similar though modified exercise should be attempted.
2. They must master diaphragmatic breathing. This exercise should follow the relaxation exercise, for the best results are obtained while lying on the back; the next best while sitting erect.
(a) Inhale slowly, filling lower lobes of lungs first, and then the upper part of chest. While doing this count ten mentally; exhale, counting ten mentally. Repeat five times.