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71
"All stammerers are afraid of something, although, many will
deny the existence of this, and we have met the stammerer who
appears so full of confidence in his own ability as to make this
statement seem impossible. Yet even this type, although rebelling
against treatment at first, realises that relaxation, which is the
foundation of treatment in stammering speech, is re-adjusting,
giving power through repose, to do the maximum amount of work
with the minimum amount of effort. As his energy output is
lessened, so speech becomes a quieter, easier thing. He no longer
finds it necessary to wear a cloak to hide his fears, confidence is
gained with ease, and proof of this is not necessary.
"An interesting factor which has presented itself in many
cases is the addition of Enuresis, or clothes wetting, proving that
this can be a purely nervous condition. I have two cases in
particular where the condition persisted every night and also during
the day-time. Both cases have cleared completely during the day,
and one child has improved so much as to be able to bring me a
report of six dry nights out of a possible seven in the week. The
other child is improving and presented me with his report of four
dry nights only last week.
"Speech is not always the first factor to improve, as stammering
is not a defect of the actual speech organs, but a disturbance of the
Nervous System. It is interesting to note such things as stability,
muscular control, self-confidence, school work, reading, etc. If
these conditions improve before speech, we know that the treatment
is at work and that speech will follow easily and will not be attended
by mannerisms which very often, if allowed to develop, prove
worse than the malady.
"There are five classes of stammerers attending twice a week,
in groups of eight to ten children, for fifty-minute sessions, and
one group of Infant stammerers with eight children attending once
a week; this is also a fifty-minute session.
"Each child attends class for as long as he needs treatment,
and it is quite impossible to quote a satisfactory average of time
needed for this treatment, as each child varies so enormously in
his individual need. Stammering is definitely curable and must
not be given up, in spite of the length of time taken in certain cases.
"The group work falls, roughly, into three parts:—
(a) Preparing or leading up to Relaxation.
(b) Relaxation.
(c) Testing of Relaxation and the following up of speech.