Yet in the past, not one of these knew what was coming. Not one realized where the trail was leading. No stammerer can of himself see into the future. But he can, at least, look into the future of others, who, like himself, are stammerers, and avoid the pitfalls into which they have fallen and save himself the mistakes they have made.

PART III

THE CURE OF STAMMERING AND STUTTERING

CHAPTER I

CAN STAMMERING REALLY BE CURED?

It has only been a few years since the impression was abroad that stammering was incurable. Not a particle of hope was held out to the afflicted individual that any semblance of a cure was possible by any method. This erroneous idea that stammering could not be cured grew up in the mind of the average person as a result of one or all of the following conditions:

1st--The inability of the stammerer to cure himself and his further inability to outgrow the trouble, (although he was repeatedly told that he would outgrow it) was the first reason that led to the foolish and totally unfounded belief that stammering could not be cured.

2nd--The principles of speech and the un-normal condition known as stammering have been surrounded with a great deal of mystery in the years gone by. The idea has been widely prevalent that the affliction was one sent by Providence as a punishment for some act committed by the sufferer or his forbears. This and many other ideas bordering upon superst.i.tion, are responsible, too, to a great degree for the belief that stammering is incurable.

3rd--Even if an attempt to cure stammering was made, this attempt was based upon the "supposition" that stammering was a physical trouble, due to some defect in the organs of speech. It followed that since no one was ever able to discover any physical defect, no one knew the true cause of the disorder, nor how to treat it successfully.

4th--Unfortunately there have been in the field a number of irresponsible charlatans, preying upon the stammerer with claims to cure, while in fact they knew little or nothing of the disorder, had never stammered themselves, nor had the slightest knowledge of the correct methods of procedure in the core of stammering. The failure of such as these to do any good led to a widespread belief that there was no successful method for the eradication of speech disorders.

From an experience covering more than twenty-eight years, during which time the author has corresponded with 210,000 persons who stammer and has personally met and diagnosed about 22,000 cases, it has been proved that all of these beliefs are fallacies of the worst character. Given any person who stutters or stammers and who has no organic defect and is as intelligent as the average child of eight years, it has been found that the Unit Method of Restoring Speech will eradicate the trouble at its source and by removing the cause, entirely remove the defective utterance.

THE STAMMERER'S CASE NOT HOPELESS: Stammerers should fix this fact firmly in mind: Stammering can be cured! There is hope, positive, definite hope for every case--this fact is based on every imaginable form of stuttering or stammering. It is not, in other words, a mere idle statement based on theory or guess-work, but a mathematical truth, taken from experience.

I recall very well the case of a man of 32 who came to me for help after five of the so-called schools for stammerers had failed to afford him any relief. Quite naturally this man was a confirmed skeptic. He did not believe that there was any cure for him. Anyone who had been through the trials that he had experienced would have felt the same way. But he placed himself under treatment, nevertheless, and in a few weeks' time, the Unit Method had restored him to perfect speech. He left entirely convinced that stammering could be cured, because it had been done in his own case which had so long seemed beyond all hope.

Many years afterward, he wrote a letter which I take the liberty of reproducing here for the encouragement and inspiration of everyone who is similarly afflicted and who feels as this man felt--that he is incurable:

"I tried to be cured of stammering at five different times by five different men at a total cost of more than one thousand dollars. None of them cured me. Then I decided to try the Unit Method. Nine years ago I did so--a decision that I have never regretted. It was evident that this method was based on a comprehensive knowledge of the art of speech. I am now a piano salesman and talk by the hour all day long; talk over the telephone perfectly; and many tell me that I speak more distinctly than the majority of people who have never stammered. I believe this is because I was taught through the Unit Method the very fundamentals of speech."

This man's case is typical of the hundreds of failures-to-cure which are responsible for the belief that stammering cannot be cured. The fact that he had made five separate attempts to be cured would, in the mind of the average man, establish the fact that stammering cannot be cured and yet it is seen that even in this extreme case, under the application of the proper scientific methods, the stammerer found freedom of speech without unusual difficulty and in a comparatively short time.

CHAPTER II

CASES THAT "CURE THEMSELVES"

Not infrequently from some source will be heard a story, many times retold, to the effect that "So-and-so" who stammered for many years has been cured--that the trouble has magically disappeared and that he stammers no longer.

What is the cause of this? What brings about such a miraculous cure?

The answer depends upon the case. Usually, the story is much more a story than a fact. Few indeed have been the stammerers who have ever actually heard the man stammer before "his trouble cured itself" and then heard him talk perfectly afterwards. Like the stories of haunted houses, there is nothing to substantiate the truth of the statement, there is no evidence by which the story may be checked up.

In the rare cases where the facts would seem to indicate the truth of the statement, it will be found that the person in question never really stammered--that his trouble was something else--lalling, lisping, or some defect of speech that was mistaken for stammering or stuttering.

Another case of apparent miraculous cure is the case of the stammerer who, finding himself unable to say words beginning with certain letters, begins the practice of subst.i.tuting easy sounds for those that are difficult and thus, provided he has only a slight case, leads many to believe that he talks almost perfectly. This fellow is known as the "Synonym Stammerer" and is usually a quick thinker and a ready "subst.i.tuter-of-words." If he has stammered noticeably for some time until those in his vicinity have become acquainted with his affliction, and then discovers the plan of subst.i.tuting easy sounds for hard ones, he may for a time conceal his impediment and lead certain of his friends to believe that he no longer stammers.

This "Synonym Stammerer" is storing up endless trouble for himself, however, for the mental strain of trying to remember and speak synonyms of hard words entails such a great drain upon his mind as to make it almost impossible to maintain the practice for any great length of tune. In this connection, let every stammerer be warned to avoid this practice of subst.i.tution of words. It is a seeming way out of difficulty sometimes, but you will find that you are only making your malady worse and laying up difficulties for yourself in the future.

CHAPTER III

CASES THAT CANNOT BE CURED

In an experience in meeting stammerers and in curing stammering it is only natural to a.s.sume that I have come across certain cases which could not be cured. It is only natural, too, to expect that in such a wide experience it would be possible to determine what cases are incurable and why.

Cases of incurable speech impediments may be divided into seven cla.s.ses:

(1)--Those with organic defects; (2)--Those with diseased condition of the brain; (3)--Those who have postponed treatment until their malady has progressed so far into the chronic stage as to make treatment valueless; (4)--Those who refuse to obey instructions; (5)--Those who persist in dissipation, regardless of effects; (6)--Those of below normal intelligence; (7)--Those who will not make the effort to be cured.

Stutterers and stammerers whose trouble arises from an organic defect are so few as to be almost an exception, but where those cases exist, they must be regarded as incurable. The re-educational process used in the successful method of curing stuttering and stammering will not replace a defective organ of the body with a new one. It will not cure harelip or cleft palate, nor will it loosen the tongue of the child who has been hopelessly tongue-tied from birth.

A boy was brought to me some years ago by his parents in the hope that his speech trouble might be eradicated, but it was found upon examination that he had always been tongue-tied and that the deformity would not permit of the normal, natural movements of the tongue necessary to proper speaking. I immediately told the parents the unfortunate condition of their son and frankly stated that in his condition there was no possibility of my being able to help him.

DISEASED BRAIN: Taking up the second cla.s.s--those who have a diseased condition of the brain--these cases, too, are very rare. I have met but a comparatively few. Where a lesion of the brain has occurred, and a distinct change has thus been brought about in the physical structure of that organ, an attempt to bring about a cure would be a waste of time--hopeless from the start.

THE PROCRASTINATORS: The third type of incurable cases is that of the stammerer or stutterer who, against all advice and experience, has persisted in the belief that his trouble would be outgrown and who has by this means allowed the disorder to progress so far into the chronic stage as to make treatment entirely without effect.

This type of incurable is very numerous. They usually start in childhood with a case of simple stuttering which, if treated then, could be eradicated quickly and easily. From this stage they usually pa.s.s into the trouble of a compound nature, known as combined stammering and stuttering. Here, also, their malady would yield readily to proper methods of treatment, but instead of giving it the attention so badly needed, they allow it to pa.s.s into a severe case of Spasmodic Stammering, and from this into the most chronic stage of that trouble.

The malady becomes rooted in the muscular system. The nervous strain and continued fear tear down all semblance of mental control and in time the sufferer is in a condition that is hopeless indeed, a condition where he is subject for the pity and the sympathy of every one who stammers, and yet a condition brought on purely by his own neglect and wilfulness.

I recall the case of a father who brought his boy of 16 to see me some years ago. At that time, the boy represented one of the worst cases of stammering I ever saw. He could scarcely speak at all. He made awful contortions of the face and body when attempting to speak. When he succeeded in uttering sounds, these resembled the deep bark of a dog.

These sounds were totally unintelligible, save upon rare occasions, when he would be able to speak clearly enough to make himself understood. I gave the boy the most searching personal diagnosis and very carefully inspected his condition both mental and physical, after which I was convinced that he could be cured, with time and persistent work. The father was given the result of my findings and told of the boy's condition. He decided to take the boy home, talk the matter over and place him under my care the next week. Ten days later he wrote me saying that the boy had secured a job in a garage at $6 a week and could not think about being cured of stammering at that time.

Two and a half years later--the boy was nearing twenty--I saw him again, and even after all my experience in meeting stammerers, could hardly believe that stammering could bring about such a terrible condition as this boy was in at that time. His mental faculties were entirely shattered. His concentration was gone. This poor boy was merely a blubbering, stumbling idiot, a sight to move the stoutest heart, a living example of the result of carelessness and parental neglect. Needless to say, I would not consider his treatment in such a condition. There was no longer any foundation to build on--no longer the slightest chance for benefiting the boy in the least.

THE WILFULLY DISOBEDIENT CASES: Taking up the fourth cla.s.s of incurables, those who refuse to obey instructions--I can only say that such as these are not deserving of a cure. They are not sincere, they are not willing to hold themselves to the simplest program no matter how great might be the resultant good. They spend their own money or the money of their parents foolishly, get no results and disgust the instructor who spends his or her efforts in trying to bring about a cure, against obstacles that no one can overcome, viz.: unwillingness to do as told. The old saying that "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink" applies most forcefully to the case of the wilfully disobedient stammerer. You can instruct this individual in the methods to bring about a cure, but you can't make him follow them.

I well remember one case in point. A young man of 20 years came to me apparently with every desire in the world to be cured of stammering.

The first day he followed instructions with great care, seemed to take a wonderful interest in his work and at the end of the day expressed to me his pleasure in finding himself improved even with one day's work.

By the third day, the novelty had worn off and his "smart-aleck"

tendencies began to come to the surface. He was impertinent. He was impudent. He was rude. He failed to come to his work promptly in the morning, was late at meals, stayed out at night beyond the time limit set by the dormitory rules and persisted in doing everything in an irregular and wilfully disobedient manner.

I was not inclined to dismiss him because of his misconduct, because it was evident that here was a boy of more than ordinary native intelligence, a fine-looking chap with untold opportunities ahead of him, if he were cured of stammering. So I put up with his misdeeds for many days, until one morning I decided that either he must come to time or return to his home--and he elected to take the latter course.

In looking up this boy's record later on, it was found that he was incorrigible, that his parents had never been successful in controlling him at any time and that he had been expelled from school twice.