These conditions, both at the time of the so-called improvement and at the time of the recurrence of the trouble, will appear in greater or less degree in the case of every stutterer or stammerer whose trouble is of the intermittent type.
THE DANGERS OF THIS TENDENCY: This period of recurrence is accompanied by almost total loss of the power-of-will, a marked weakening in the ability to concentrate, and if it does not result in insomnia (inability to sleep) puts the mind in such a state as to make sleep of little value in building up the body, replacing worn-out tissue cells and restoring vital energy.
The chief danger, however, resulting from these periods of temporary improvement, is the belief that it instills into the mind of the sufferer and more frequently into the minds of the parents of stuttering or stammering children, that the trouble will cure itself--a fallacy greater than which there is none.
Stuttering and stammering are destructive maladies. They tear down both body and mind but they have not the slightest power to build up. And until a strong mental and physical structure has been built up in place of the weakened structure (which results in stammering and stuttering) a cure is out of the question.
CHAPTER V
THE PROGRESSIVE TENDENCY
The spell of intense recurrence of either stammering or stuttering which follows a period of improvement, often marks the period of transition from one stage of the disorder into the next and more serious stage. This transition, however, may not be a conscious process--that is, the sufferer may not in any way be informed of the fact that he is pa.s.sing into a more serious stage of his trouble save that after the transition has taken place, he may find himself a chronic or constant stammerer and in a nervous and mental condition much more acute than ever before.
Dr. Alexander Melville Bell (father of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone), who, before his death, was a speech expert of unquestioned repute, discovered this condition many years ago and in his work PRINCIPLES OF SPEECH speaks of it as follows (page 234):
"Often the transition from simple to more complicated forms of difficulty is so rapid, that it cannot be traced or antic.i.p.ated.
Perhaps some slight ailment may imperceptibly introduce the higher impediment or some evil example may draw the ill-mastered utterance at once into the vortex of the difficulty."
This Progressive Tendency, which we shall hereafter call the Progressive Character of the trouble in order to distinguish it from the Intermittent Tendency, is present in more than 98 per cent, of the cases of stammering and stuttering which I have examined and diagnosed.
True, there are many cases, the apparent or manifest tendencies of which do not indicate that the disorder is becoming more serious, but nevertheless this condition is no indication that the trouble is not busily at work tearing out the foundation of mental and bodily perfection.
SUCCESSIVE STAGES: Stuttering may be conveniently divided into four stages, by which its progress may be measured. These may be designated in their order as:
1--Simple Phase 2--Advanced Phase 3--Mental Phase 4--Compound Phase
The progress of the disorder is sure. Take the case of a child eight years of age who has a case of simple stuttering. Permit the child to go without attention for some time and the trouble will have progressed into the Advanced Phase, usually without the knowledge of the child or his parents or without any especially noticeable surface change in his condition.
Stuttering in its first phase--Simple Stuttering--can justly be called a physical and not a mental trouble. In this stage, the disorder should be easily eradicated. The duration of cases of Simple Stuttering is very slight, for the reason that Simple Stuttering soon pa.s.ses into the Advanced Phase, which is of a physical-mental nature, exhibiting the symptoms of a mental disturbance as well as of a physical difficulty.
From the Advanced Phase stuttering then pa.s.ses into the Mental Phase, where the mental strain is found to be greatly intensified and the disorder a distinct mental type instead of a physical or physical-mental trouble.
When stuttering in this stage is permitted to continue its hold upon the sufferer, the continued strain, worry and fear bring about a condition of extraordinary malignancy, in which the trouble develops into the Chronic Mental Stage. This is a condition bordering upon mental breakdown and even though the complete breakdown never occurs, the one afflicted finds himself a chronic stutterer, without surcease from his trouble. He further finds that he has increasing difficulty in thinking of the things which he wishes to say. He seems to know, but his mind refuses to frame the thought. In other words, he is unable to recall the mental image of the word in mind, and is therefore unable to speak the word. This is a condition known as Aphasia or Thought Lapse and represents a most serious stage of the difficulty, in many cases totally beyond the possibility of relief--a condition in which no stutterer should allow himself to get.
Stammering, being a kindred condition to stuttering, progresses from bad to worse in a manner very similar. The progress of stammering may be cla.s.sified into successive stages as follows:
1--Elementary Stage 2--Spasmodic Stage 3--Primary Mental Stage 4--Chronic Mental Stage 5--Compound Stage
Stammering in the Elementary Stage, like Stuttering, is a Physical Trouble. The Stammerer has often been known to remain in the Elementary Stage only a few days or a few weeks, pa.s.sing almost immediately into either the Spasmodic or the Primary Mental Stage. Not all stammerers pa.s.s into the Spasmodic Stage of the disorder, however, some pa.s.sing directly into Primary Mental Stage.
The Spasmodic Stage, however, is a form of difficulty somewhat akin to the Advanced Phase of Stuttering, for in this stage the trouble can be said to be of Physical-Mental nature instead of the purely physical disorder found in Elementary Stammering.
Stammering, in the Primary Mental Stage, takes on a distinct Mental form as differentiated from the Mental-Physical form and becomes therefore more difficult to eradicate. If allowed to continue, this form of Stammering (like Stuttering) pa.s.ses into the Chronic Mental Stage, in which case the Stammerer usually exhibits p.r.o.nounced signs of Thought Lapse and finds himself a Chronic or Constant Stammerer, often unable to utter a sound-and further at times unable to THINK of what he wishes to say.
The progress of both Stuttering and Stammering from one stage to another is very certain. These speech disorders do not differ materially from other human afflictions in this respect--they do not remain constant. There is an axiom in Nature, that "Nothing is static,"
which, being interpreted, means, that nothing stands still. And this applies with full force to the stutterer or stammerer. If no steps are taken to remedy the malady, he may be very sure that the disorder is getting worse--not standing still or remaining the same.
CHAPTER VI
CAN STAMMERING AND STUTTERING BE OUTGROWN?
Probably the most harmful and oft-repeated bit of advice ever given to a stammerer or stutterer is that which says, "Oh, don"t bother about it--you will soon outgrow the trouble!" It is the most harmful because it is palpably untrue. It is so oft-repeated because the person giving the advice knows nothing whatever about the cause of stammering and just as little about its progress or treatment.
The fact that we hear of no cases of stuttering or stammering which have been outgrown does not seem to alter the popular and totally unfounded belief that stammering and stuttering can be readily outgrown.
If the reader has not read the chapter on the causes of stuttering and stammering and the two preceding chapters on the Intermittent Tendency and the Progressive Character of these speech disorders, then these chapters should be read carefully before going further with this one, because it is essential to know the cause of the trouble before it is possible to answer intelligently the question, "Can Stammering be Outgrown?"
To any one who understands the nature of the difficulty and the progress it is liable to make, the question is almost as absurd as asking whether or not the desire to sleep can be outgrown by staying awake. But aside from its scientific aspect--aside from the absurdity of the question--let us examine the facts as revealed by actual records of cases. Let us dispense with all theory on the subject and take experience gained in a wide range of cases as the correct guide in finding the answer.
FACTS FROM STATISTICS: An examination of the records of several thousand cases of stuttering and stammering of all types and in all stages of development reveals the fact that after pa.s.sing the age of six, only one-fifth of one per cent, ever outgrow stammering. This means that out of every five hundred people who stammer, only one ever outgrows it. Between the ages of three and six, the indications are more favorable, the records in these cases showing that slightly less than one per cent, outgrow the difficulty. That means that one out of every hundred children affected has a chance, at least, of outgrowing the difficulty between the ages of three and six, and after that time, only one chance in five hundred.
Suppose you were handed a rifle, given five hundred cartridges and told to hit a bull"s eye at a hundred yards, 499 times out of 500. Suppose you were told that if you missed once you would have to suffer the rest of your life as a stammerer.
Would you take the offer? Certainly not!!!
And yet that is exactly the opportunity that a stammerer over six years of age has to outgrow his trouble.
Dr. Leonard Keene Hirschberg, the medical writer, whose suggestions appear daily in a large list of newspapers, has this to say about the possibility of outgrowing stammering:
"Often when the attention of careless and reckless fatalistic relatives is attracted to a child"s stammering, they labor under the mistaken illusion that the child "will outgrow it." A more harmful doctrine has never been perpetuated than the one contained in that stock phrase. As a matter of experience, speech troubles are not "outgrown." They become "ingrown." If not corrected at first they go from bad to worse. So firmly rooted and ingrained into the child"s habits does stuttering become that with every hour"s growth the chance for a cure becomes farther and farther removed."
This statement from Dr. Hirschberg is a straight-forward, practical and common-sense view of the subject.
The belief that the child will outgrow the malady often springs out of the tendency of the stammerer to be better and worse by turns, a condition which is fully described and explained in the chapter on the Intermittent Tendency. There is always present in any case of stammering the opportunity for a cessation of the trouble for a short period of time. The visible condition is changeable and it is this particular aspect of the disorder that renders it deceptive and dangerous, for many, who find themselves talking fairly well for a short period, believe that they are on the road to relief, whereas they are simply in a position where their trouble is about to return upon them in greater force than ever.
From the nature of the impediment--lack of co-ordination between the brain and the organs of speech--stammering cannot be outgrown--no more so than the desire to eat or to talk or to sleep.
Back of that statement, there is a very sound scientific reason that explains why stammering cannot be outgrown. Stammering is destructive.
It tears down but cannot build up. Every time the stammerer attempts to speak and fails, the failure tears out a certain amount of his power-of-will. And since it is impossible for him to speak fluently except on rare occasions, this loss of will-power and confidence takes place every time he attempts to speak, so that with each successive failure, his power to speak correctly becomes steadily lessened. The case of a stammerer might be compared to a road in which a deep rut has been worn. Each time a wagon pa.s.ses through this rut, it becomes deeper. The stammerer has no more chance of outgrowing his trouble than the road has of outgrowing the rut.
Dr. Alexander Melville Bell recognizes the absolute certainty of the progress of stammering and the impossibility of outgrowing the difficulty, when he states in his work, PRINCIPLES OF SPEECH (page 234):
"If the stammerer or stutterer were brought under treatment before the spasmodic habit became established, his cure would be much easier than after the malady has become rooted in his muscular and nervous system."
To the stammerer or stutterer or the parents of a stammering child, experience brings no truer lesson than this: Stammering cannot be outgrown; danger lurks behind delay.
CHAPTER VII