The Carbon County news., 1931-09-10
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By DR.. WILLIAM ]. SCHOLES

Stammering and suffering are
two words that are often used
anonymously to describe certain
nervous defects of speech. Kuss-
maui, a German physician, made
this distinction between the two;
I'm stammering-it is difficult to
produce the individual sounds. In
stuttering-it is difficult to COM
bine the syllables into words"
The first sound of a word, which
may be repeated several times in
rapid succession, seems to be a
sort Of stumbling block to those
who are afflicted with stlttering.
Those who stammer suffer from
mere or less nervous spasm of the
muscles concerned in speech.
Is Disregarded
Very often there is but little
effort made to aid the victim in
overcoming his difficulty. In the
case of children, the existence of
disorders of this kind is too fire.
quently regarded as nothing to
worry about, and such disorders
are merely added to that class of
afflictions which the child is ex-
pected to outgrow.
Cases occurring in children three
or four years old,-before COM
plete control of the mechanism of
speech has been gained, land cases
resulting from illness or from the
imitation of someone who is af-
flicted, will perhaps result in the
recovery of normal speech control
in the course of time. Those cases
which come on in children during
the sixth year or later, and those
in which the tendency to stammer
or stutter is hereditary, are not SO
easily overcome.
Mabel Farington Clifford, d.
rector of the Speech Clinic at the
University of California Hospital,
gave an interesting discussion of
speech defects in the Journal of
the American Medical Association.
She has had eight years of exper-
ience in conducting this clinic, and
has come into contact with hun
dreds of cases of this kind. And
she classifies speech defects into
a number of groups and outlines
the methods by which the cases
falling into each of these groups
should be treated. Other defects
than stammering and suffering
are considered.
Clifford is convinced that cases
of nervous speech defects usually
result from some sudden shock or
from continued emotional disturb
ance. She states that the remedy
consists in teaching the person so
afflicted to deliberately control
the mechanism of speech. And in
aiding him to develop confidence.
She believes that nervous speech |
defects are durable by the right |
methods applied by the right tea
chers, and condemns the policy of |
waiting for these defects to be |
Attention is called to the fact |
that nothing is to be gained by
waiting in those cases that are the
result of some abnormality requir-
ing surgery for it's relief. And
where the defect is due to psychic
or nervous causes, delay only al
lows the sufferer to grow self
and to probably develop
a painful fear of ridicule.
Needs Expert Attention
When we consider the important
role that speech plays in the bust
ness and social life of the individ- |
ual, the necessity of early and SER
lous attempts to correct it's defects
should be apparent. These people
should be regarded as patients re-
lulring expert attention and placed |
under the supervision of someone
who is qualified to treat them.
Under no circumstances should
anyone who is afflicted with STAN
merlng or suffering be made the
object of ridicule or punishment