Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-04-09
Copyright. 1897
Your Baby and Mine
ny MYRTLE MEYER ELDRED

Stammering and suffering are two
Of the most vexing habits to stop,
chiefly because children do not all
| stammer from the same cause II
| they did, 1t would only be necessary to
| eliminate the cause.
A child may begin to stammer fol-
| lowing a severe Illness. The stammer-
| ing may start Unexpectedly after a
| child has n frightened by animals
| or some ing adult,
| 1t may done in. unconscious imi-
| Ia ton Of some playn7 e, relative or
| friend who il a victil { stammering.
| Perhaps one of the cnild's parents is
a stammerer. 1t is almost a foregone
| conclusion that the child will stammer,
| not because of heredity, but because
| he is sure to initiate parents fail.
| ings as wen as graces
| 1t behooYes the parent, when a
| child begins to stammer, to try at that
moment to decipher the cause. Later
one S memory may not be so good, but
! right then one can usually decide what
| it was that caused the initial STAN
lnering.
II it is imitation, keeping the child
away from the stammerer should cure
| the habit without trouble. as he viii
| forget it when it is not brought to his
attention daily.
IT fright or illness is at the root Of
1t. erase the fear and keep from center
ing the attention Of the child on his
stammering. Pounding ii home that
he Is stammering and forcing him to
notice 1t constantly will only make the
habit stronger.
Keeping him out Of doors. away from
the person or thing which caused the
fright, building up his bodily health,
will do more than exercises to cure
him. That Is, more than exercises of
which the child Is aware.
Like all other habits, a child gets
a certain satisfaction In contemplating
the disturbance he causes. If he finds
the mother lowering over him, intent
on each word, trying constantly TO help
| him overcome his stammering. he is
going to get enough satisfaction out
of the situation so that unconsciously
| he will continue 1t.
He likes the attention he gets, even
though he does not figure this out and
| know that he is stammering because
of the attention and CONSERVATION He
| just does 1t because this Is the natural
way for child, or even an adult, TO
| react.
1t is better to sing with the child, to
| have him repeat rhymes which are
singsong, all as If 1t were play and
had nothing to do with the stammer-
| ing. Ignore that Pretend it does not
| exist. DO not stop the child at each
word and make him say it over
! This only drives his failing deeper
/ into his consciousness and makes the
repetition easier. 1t is self-conscious-
ness that makes him stammer, and let
ting him forget himself will help him
| to talk naturally.
| Please do not ask me to give names
of schools for the cure Of stammering
or opinions of their merits. This is an
| individual matter. If the child has be.
come so bad, the parents may feel that
| the cure must come from some method
which they cannot follow at home, that
there is some cure other than the sim.
| pie ideas given above. In that case
| they viii have to try out the various
| stammering cures. What might sue
| coed in one case might fail In another,
| because, as said before, the initial
| cause was not the same in all children.
| and so the cure could not be the same.