Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1919-01-18

1t is to be doubted whether any other
human being who started life with serious
serious defect ever did more, after being
cured Of it, to rid the world of similar de-
fects than Mabel harrington Clifford has
already done land yet she is practically at
the beginning of her career. Handicapped
as a stammerer, Mrs. Clifford was sympa-
thetically equipped after her own cure to
relieve others. Adding skill to sympathy,
she has cured thousands Of defective speech,
developed the treatment Of stammering from
primitive make-shift to an exact science
and is at present training teachers to rid
shell-shocked soldiers Of the speech defects
from which great number suffer. She
has been asked by Major Charles w. Rich
ardson, in charge Of the United States Di-
vision Of Special Hospitals and Physical
Reconstruction, to send him the name of
each competent graduate she turns out and
cooperate with the SurgeOn-G General s office
in other ways.
AS young girl, living in Los Angeles,
she determined to rid herself of stammering
She journeyed to Buffalo, where she took
treatment in the Natural Speech Institute
then perhaps the most famous school for
stammerers in America. There she secured
some relief but was not entirely cured. Alb
dominal breathing and schooling in meas
ured enumeration summed up the treatment
in those days, when only small percent
age of speech detectives were completely
relieved. These methods did not satisfy
Miss Farrngtotn-as she then was She
returned to Los Angeles and opened there
branch of the Buffalo school, But she
said to herself "There is bic psychologist
cal factor back Of all this,'' and set out to
discover it. She found that stammering
is not a result of ordinary nervousness. as
was supposed, but definite disease or defect
due to disturbance in the functoning of
auditory speech centers. SO she began to
train these centers, working out original
exercises to give her patients conscious con-
troll OF the outer speech mechanism. Next
came exercises in silent memory-images of
perfect speech, /. e., she first trained the
muscles and nerves-then the brain, bring
ing about perfect coordination, developing
dormant arrested faculties into healthy
normal action.
During past years she has studied with
many great teachers and has done an amaz-
ing amount Of work in treatment and in
struction. In 1916 she opened trial clinics
in the public schools of San Francisco and
Oakland, treating several hundred cases
with success. But when she suggested to
the San Francisco Board of Education a
department for the treatment Of defective
speech. Mrs. Clifford was smilingly informed
that she would not have enough cases to
keep her busy. A test survey however,
was made and to the amazement of educa-
tional directors some fifteen hundred child
rem were culled from the mass as pro-
nounced specimens of defective speech
Eight hundred more were found in Oak
land. The school boards objections were
apologetically withdrawn and since that
time Mrs. Clifford has organized very eff
fective system Of treatment. The San Fran
cisco school district is divided into five cen
tiers, which she visits regularly. In the past
year and half she has probably relieved
and cured thousands Of children for under
the use Of fourteen corrected speech is
practically certain. Patients of all ages
are cured in the ratio Of eight out of ten.
Perhaps the most interesting work con-
templated by Mrs. Clifford in the near fu-
ture, aside from that relating to soldiers, is