Chapter VII: Correction of Speech Defects

In addition to the ordinary faults and failings in speech possessed by many in common, there are the special and specific defects, such as stammering, stuttering, lisping, and the like. Every defective is to be pitied, as many professions and occupations are of such a nature as practically to bar men and women who cannot speak well. There are the social and ethical handicaps, also, to be considered, as well as that of economics. The defective speech of a child renders him the butt of his playmates’ rude and often brutal jokes. The sensitive is thus driven away from society. He becomes a solitary and not infrequently his life is ruined.

Speaking of the stutterer, one who is not afflicted by this disease (for so authorities have determined it to be), cannot realize what a terrible life he lives. Dr. Scripture, of Columbia University, New York City, who is one of the greatest authorities on this subject, says: “One boy often threw himself on the floor, begging his mother to tell him how to die. Another boy asked for a letter to his father, telling him to keep the other children from laughing at him. Many stutterers become so sensitive that they imagine everybody is constantly making fun of them. The life of a stutterer is usually so full of sorrow that it can hardly be said to be worth living.”[3]

The speech delinquent is shy, timid, super-sensitive, constantly harboring the thought that people are laughing at him. He gradually shuns society, lives unto himself, and in many instances becomes morally depraved. He contracts a morbid outlook upon life in general, and often is driven to criminality. This statement is no exaggeration. The Board of Education in New York City, after thorough investigation, found that “one school child in four suffers from speech defect,” and that “among boy criminals, nine in ten suffer from the same malady.”

In the Grand Rapids schools classes for the sole purpose of correcting speech defects were organized.

The mechanical arrangement was as follows: Twelve classes were arranged for in five different schools with _a half hour a day_ for each class. The children were grouped according to age, kind of defect, etc., and a teacher with special training for the correction of speech was sent from school to school to give the instruction.

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:

1. He is inclined to speak too fast when started.

2. He has no control over his breathing.

3. He often endeavors to speak during inhalation instead of
during exhalation.

4. He is extremely sensitive, always fearing that he is making a
mistake.

5. His face usually carries an expression of bitter sorrow and
despair.

6. He is usually intensely grateful to any one for a kind word of
help.

7. He tries with the utmost skill to conceal his defect.

8. He is usually weak physically.

9. He is usually of a nervous temperament.

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.

(b) Inhale ten counts again, hold breath five counts, exhale ten
counts. Repeat five times.

(c) Inhale slightly, then purse lips to impede the air as it
passes out; now give one short puff with spasmodic contraction of
abdomen. Repeat five times, inhaling slightly before each puff.

(d) Inhale deeply, then give one long puff with continuous
contraction of the abdomen. Repeat five times, inhaling deeply
before each puff.

3. Tone production should follow breathing exercises.

(a) Count orally 1-1-1-1-1 with spasmodic abdominal contraction.
Repeat five times. Be sure that breath is taken in after each
count.

(b) Count orally 1-1-1-1-1 with continuous abdominal contraction.
Repeat five times.

(c) Inhale deeply and count orally 1 to 10, stressing every other
count. Some students cannot do this unless the teacher keeps
time with ruler as a baton, striking some object. Others can
only do this by walking slowly, repeating a count on every other
footfall. Repeat five times.

(d) Select a lyric with marked rhythm and read in concert in
sing-song style. Repeat each stanza five times, giving marked
pulsation to each accented syllable. Tennyson’s “Song of the
Brook” is especially good for this purpose.

(e) Take a simple prose selection and mark it off in thought
groups, and then read slowly and measuredly in concert, giving a
fairly long pause between each group. Hamlet’s “Instructions to
the Players,” and Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” are splendid for
such work.

When the defective has learned to speak fluently memorized work, then he should be taught confidence in simple conversational exercises. This work should be, so far as possible, voluntary on the part of the pupil. Let the class form a circle, each one sitting with a sense of ease and relaxation and then, as they are inclined, take part in conversing on some simple, interesting topic. Some will have to be urged to participate while others find great delight in such work.

In regard to training in enunciation, this work has been found to be more successful when given late in the development of the defective. After he has gained confidence in speech ability and cultivated, to some degree, real enjoyment in voice production, he is better prepared to consider this more or less purely technical training. In very extreme cases, however, it will be found necessary to begin speech instruction with him as you would teach a child. Such students must be taught the proper control of lips, tongue and jaw, as though they had never learned speech at all.

Experts who have devoted a lifetime to the study of speech evils and their remedy find a large variety of causes for them, as well as immense diversity in manifestation. One may seem to be born with a tendency to stammering, stuttering or lisping; another can trace the habit to a fright, to imitation, to some exhaustive disease, to nervous timidity, to self-consciousness. But whatever the cause, or however the evil manifests itself, it is a living nightmare, a dreadful, ever-present burden to its victim. Hence parents and teachers should seriously endeavor to correct the habit as speedily as it is discovered. For if it be long-continued it is almost sure to produce shyness, timidity, lack of necessary self-reliance, even moroseness, sullenness and other consequences of perpetual unhappiness.

At the outset let it be understood clearly that all harshness, unkindness, or severity of treatment in word or deed, adds to the evil and renders it more difficult of eradication. The victim of the habit is to be sympathized with, and lovingly encouraged. Yet promptness, firmness and persistency are essential in the production of a cure. The following suggestions should be put into practice, but seldom or never in the presence of strangers, or at any time when they would heighten the sufferer’s embarrassment. They must also be followed with happy cheerfulness.

1. When a victim of one of these habits begins to stammer or stutter, stop him immediately, and say pleasantly but firmly and crisply, “Stop!” Then command: “Take a deep breath! Now hold it! Now think of what you want to say—each word!” Then allow the stutterer to let out his breath; then inhale again deeply, and begin his speech. If he fails, see that he begins again. Practice this as often as you can. Exercises can also be made up, following the same procedure, that will be of incalculable benefit, as, for instance, taking a deep breath, then repeating as much of the alphabet as is possible before breathing again.

2. Cultivate slowness of speech. Insist upon words being spoken slowly, with great distinctness and clearness of articulation. The moment stuttering begins, issue the commands: “Stop! Deep breath; think; breathe out, breathe in; now!” Let the teacher say his words very slowly and constantly encourage the pupil to do the same.

3. Cultivate the habit of rapid thinking. This can be done by a series of exercises played as games if necessary. For instance: “The Game of Names.” The teacher says, “Flower!” The pupil replies, “Rose.” If the teacher has a list ready he can call out his names as quickly as possible, such as, Animal, Tree, Water, Bird, Dog, etc., while the pupil responds, Horse, Oak, River, Sparrow, Bulldog, etc. The interest can be increased by repeating a generic term, requiring a different species for answer. Flower, Animal, Tree, Water, etc., can have a score or more of different answers.

Another exercise in prompt thinking is that of “Association of Ideas.” The teacher gives out a name—whatever occurs to him—as, for instance, “Tree.” The pupil immediately responds, “Leaves.” Then the teacher may add, “Autumn,” and the pupil, “Poetry,” and so on. Or the associations may all be required from the pupil. The words used as _starters_ should be carefully chosen, of course, to meet the mental condition of the pupil; such words as Baby, Doll, Mamma, Bed, House, etc., being good for children of tender years.

Another excellent exercise is that of “Contrasts or Differences,” where the teacher says, “Boy,” and the pupil responds, “Girl.” “Black” calls forth “white,” “heavy” is responded to by “light,” etc.

Equally good is “Finishing Quotations” or “lines”—provided, of course, the pupil is old enough for such a mental exercise. For instance, the teacher says, “Everything is not gold,” while the pupil should respond, “That glitters.” “My country,” would bring out “’Tis of thee,” or “Right or wrong.”

Anything that quickens the intellect and demands ready response is of material help, but the teacher must not forget that, in this mental-promptness exercise, slow and deliberate speech also are essential on his part and that of the pupil.

4. Whenever it is found that a pupil stammers or stutters over a word beginning with a consonant, as, for instance, “bread,” require him to drop out the initial letter and say “read,” or even “ead.” Such words as pie, Tommy, tub, butter, top, bank, tumble, tell, nut, lap, can be used. Let him say, “ie,” “ommy,” “ub,” etc. Then when he is sure of this part of the word, let him, after taking a deep breath, try the full word, saying it again, but always slowly and distinctly.

5. Teach the pupil to sing his sentences. Begin with some simple salutation, as, “Where are you going?” and let it be sung to the notes:

Then let a response be sung reversing the music, “I’m going home.” “How do you do?” “Where are your father and your mother?” “How far is it to the market?” are sentences that can be sung. The teacher should invent his own music and words, but insist upon slow, deliberate utterances of tone and word. This is a wonderful help in certain kinds of cases.

6. There are certain simple exercises or calisthenics that materially aid in strengthening the muscles of the head, neck, throat, jaw, etc. The teacher can utilize these according to his best judgment. Any book of calisthenic or physical exercises will suggest those most useful.

7. But above all, in seeking a cure of these distressing evils, use the psychical or spiritual remedy. Give the pupil confidence that God never intended him to be cursed by a stammering, stuttering, or lisping tongue. He is the child of an Infinite and Loving Father. All good is his, if he will learn how to take it. Urge him to restful, trustful reliance upon the tender help of the Great Power outside of himself, in conjunction with the efforts you and he together are making to effect a cure.

To the teacher who needs thorough preparation upon this subject we can commend heartily Dr. E. W. Scripture’s book “Stuttering and Lisping,” published by the Macmillan Company, New York.