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the familiar story of Demosthenes, the Greek orator, who is said to
have cured his stammer by standing on the sea-shore shouting to
the waves with a pebble on his tongue. A few weeks ago I heard
of a small boy who had cured his stammer in the same way. Less
than fifty years ago it was a comparatively common occurrence for
surgeons to operate for a stammer. Everyone has his own pet
theory, and every stammerer we meet has been told to breath deeply
or hit the table or click his fingers. When we bear of a successful
cure of this description there is only one answer to it where
there's a will there's a way. There is always a type of person who
intends to get cured and one who subconsciously prefers not to do
so. It is the job of the Speech Therapist to get at the root of this
subconscious preference and help the stammerer to find out the cause
of his stammer and so get rid of it.
Every stammerer is different and it is soon found out that
it is necessary to treat the stammerer and not the stammer. As
there is no speech defect it is no good attacking the speech itself
and more harm than good can be done by countless vocal exercises;
producing perfect vowel and consonant sounds which only draw.
the attention of the stammerer to his own difficult. When the:
stammerer is perfectly relaxed physically and mentally he can
talk freely. It is necessary to get rid of all muscular tension by.'
exercises and daily practice in relaxation, at the same time strengthening
the self-confidence of the stammerer by talking to him, taking
an interest in his life, and explaining the cause and effect of thee
stammer to him. Breathing exercises are important as they help
to develop control and establish confidence in the stammerer's
. power over his own voice. Recitation and reading are practiced
sparingly and only in order to convince the stammerer of his progress.
The essential part of the cure is to get rid of the feeling off
inferiority and incompetence which is inherent in every stammerer 1
and to build up instead a feeling of confidence and assurance. Thee
great thing is to get the whole-hearted support not only of thee
stammerer himself but of his parents and friends, school teachers
and companions. The difficulties that he is up against in daily
life cannot be too clearly realised ; if he is a nervous type he should
not be forced to read aloud in class, to take messages or to do shopping.
On the other hand the stammerer nearly always has a high
standard of intelligence and he should not be treated differently
from other children or passed over because he is difficult to teach.
I had a case of a boy of fourteen who could not read, because when
he was younger his teacher passed him by because his stammer prevented
him from speaking quickly. Even- case can be cured eventtally,
the time depends entirely on the individual. The complete
cure may take from 3 months to 3 years or more, according to thee