Speaking too rapidly is a defect, and results from too rapid thought. Put a restraint upon thought,—that is, control it,—and make the tongue move slower in consequence, being careful to phrase and emphasize well.
Too slow speech.
Speaking too slowly is also a defect, opposite in kind from rapid speech, and is caused by the mind moving too slowly in thinking. The remedy is to think faster, and urge the tongue to move quicker.
Stuttering.
When you have too slow thought and too rapid speech, you have stuttering; for the tongue keeps moving all the time while the thought is coming, and it repeats syllables or words. Make the mind of the stutterer move faster, and the tongue talk slower. In each of these last three defects, let the person who wants to cure it "know what you wish to say before you attempt to say it."
Stammering.
Stammering is caused by too much effort on the part of the person to make articulate sounds, and is usually the result of imitating some one who stammered, or formed gradually by habit of incorrect breathing, and from physical weakness. Stammerers make the attempt to speak, and the lips or tongue or jaw become immovable, or the words stick in their throat; and, because this takes place, they make great effort to overcome it. The more effort they make, the harder it is for them; and sometimes this leads to contortions and jerkings of body and limbs that are painful. To cure this takes a longer or shorter time, depending on the state of health, the length of time the habit has been in forming, the amount of jerking of limbs to which the stammerer is subject, and the care taken by the stammerer to practise much. A stammerer can be cured by teaching articulation thoroughly. (See Parts One and Two of this book; also Monroe's Fourth Reader.) Show every element separately, and the position the mouth takes to make it; then combine into syllables, then into words, then into phrases. Show the stammerer, that, the less the effort made, the easier will be the speaking. Impress upon the stammerer's mind, "Make no effort to speak," and the habit is to be overcome by long-continued practice and a thorough and complete training in articulation. When reading, be sure and read in phrases; that is, speak a phrase, as a long word, without pause. Stammerers, being usually feeble in health, should practise the physical and vocal gymnastics (Parts One and Two), and particularly the breathing exercises. When you have given the stammerer confidence, and he or she finds that talking is as easy as walking or singing, the cure is certain. There may be times of excitability or nervousness when stammering will return; but these times will be less and less frequent as health gets better and confidence grows, and finally will not return. Remember, stammerer, "make no effort." Be lazy, and even, at first, slovenly in speech, and cure is certain.
THE END.