The Washington herald., 1915-10-13
Copyright, lsIS)

N~NpSA+e--Nb
A question about a cure for stammer-
ing in one Of our recent club talks has
| brought me several interesting letters.
Among them is one from a mother who
found a way to do 1t, and at her request
l am giving it to the club tiday. This
mother writes:
Dear Aunt Chatty: I notice in the
Mothers Club that Mrs. T. B. writes to
ask II her little girl can be cured of
stammering. Out of the thankfulness of
ny heart that my little boy was cured.
would like to tell all mothers Of my eX-
perience.
When my boy was nearly three years
old he began to stammer. ! am a very
rapid talker and in trying to talk like
did the child stammered over his words
until 1t was terrible TO hear him. l had
read in magazine articles that the slight
est tendency to stammering should be
nipped in the bud by saying sentences
slowly and having the child repeat them.
l had tried that, but I only succeeded in
making him worse-more nervous-and
myself. too.
.'One day one Of my friends came to
visit me. When l told her of my trouble
she said she had had the same difficulty
with two of hers-she has four-but she
had cured them both.
she advised me not to ask my boy
any questions that would require think
ing to answer. not to allow him to finish
a sentence IL he stammered over it. but
10 finish it for him if l had an idea what
he was going to say: above all. she said.
never to make him conscious of the fact
that he stammered-to ignore it alto
gether.
Her advice was so contrary to all I
had been reading in the magazines that
I was afraid to try 1t, but as l had great
confidence in this friend, I did venture
at last. ] even went further than she
I took away the child's picture books,
story books. everything that in any way
taxed his brain, and kept him out of
doors all that I possibly could. I bought
garden tools for him and worked and
played with him whenever I could leave
my household duties. Strange as 1t may
seem, in two weeks he had ceased to
stammer.
"As ! have worked 1t out believe the
cause of stammering is that the brain
works faster than the power of express
sion develops-the tongue cannot utter
the thoughts as quickly as they are
formed and therefore it cannot get them
out as we say. 1 tried not to have any
further brain training until the tongue
reason / took away all books and insist
ed upon outdoor exercise. My heart
aches now for the little children whose
mothers try to make them speak slow,
ly:;' that only makes them SO conscious
Of the fact that they do not talk like
other children that it increases the diff
Guilty
There are several points in which this
mother is quite in accord with what the
authorities tell US on this subject. The
chief of them is never to make him
conscious Of the fact that he stammers."
The power Of suggestion plays a very i'm
portant part in the cure Of most physi-
cal defects and in none more than in
stammering. which is entirely a nervous
disorder.
The gardening and outdoor exercise Is
also q sedative and restorative. That
was the basis Of the method used in a
very successful sanitarium / once knew
of. where patients were treated especially
for this trouble. The patients worked
many hours each day in the open air un-
til they were physically tired. but In
quiet, restful surroundings, and in the
quiet talks with the attendants or each