Defective Speech 
 
 — AND — 
 
 Deafness 
 
 By LILLIE EGINTON WARREN 
 
 ^P^] 
 
 S\ 
 
 V 
 
 EDGAR S. WERNER, Publisher 
 
 108 East 16th Street, 
 
 New York. 
 
 1895 
 
 <W\ 
 
 V 
 

 COPYRIGHT 
 
 1894 
 By LILLIE EGINTON WARREN 
 
 PRESS OF EDGAR S. WERNER, 108 EAST 16TH STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "Preface . . 7 
 
 Chapter I. 
 The Deaf -Mute and the Stammerer 13 
 
 Chapter II. 
 The Very Young Deaf Child 19 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Signs, Finger- Spelling and Speech . 30 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Teaching the Dumb to Speak 38 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 The Child Suddenly Deaf and the Child Growing 
 
 Deaf Slowly 48 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 Hearing Can Be Improved and Developed .... 57 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 
 How the Hard-of -Hearing Adult May Enjoy Con- 
 versation 65 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 Dull Pupils 74 
 
 (5) 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 Invented or " Pathological " Language 81 
 
 Chapter X. 
 Lisping and Careless Speech in General 94 
 
 Chapter XI. 
 Stuttering and Stammering 101 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 Cleft Palates 110 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 r I ^HERE are many children in the schools 
 who have a deficient sense of hearing. 
 All of them are not conscious of the fact ; yet 
 the deafness may be serious enough to interfere 
 with progress in their studies. Such children 
 are frequently considered dull and inattentive 
 pupils. Many suffer from catarrhal affections 
 and thereby present a variability of hearing, 
 which makes them appear to much better ad- 
 vantage on some days than on others. Thus 
 they add to the teacher's difficulty in distin- 
 guishing them from the wilfully disobedient. If 
 one ear is defective and the other not, there will 
 be times when the child hears well, and soon 
 after, having turned his head, he fails to under- 
 stand and seems indifferent. 
 
 The hearing of school children has been care- 
 fully examined from time to time by specialists. 
 
 (7) 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 In one school in New York, Dr. Sexton found 
 76 cases, only one of which had been previously 
 recognized to be deaf. The same physician 
 found that an average of 13 per cent, of all 
 the pupils examined had a decided defect in one 
 ear or both ears. Out of 450 cases of deafness 
 in children, selected for observation in private 
 and infirmary practice, 371 were attempting to 
 retain their places in school. Dr. Worrell, of 
 Terre Haute, Ind. , found in one school 98 cases 
 of defective hearing, only one of which had 
 been recognized by the teacher, and in an or- 
 phan asylum 27 instances, only two of which 
 were previously known. Dr. Barr, of Glasgow, 
 found, out of 600 children attending the board 
 schools of that city, 166 were deficient in hear- 
 ing. Out of 3,588 children of Bordeaux, tested 
 by Moure, 616 were found to hear a whisper 
 at a distance of from only 1 to 3 metres, in- 
 stead of 15 metres, which is normal. Gelle, of 
 Paris, found that 25 per cent, of the pupils in 
 one school of that city, presented deafness. In 
 Germany, Russia and Denmark, returns show 
 an almost equally alarming high rate of varia- 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 tion from the normal ; and one authority, Weil, 
 insists that every inattentive child should have 
 his ears examined. 
 
 Censns returns give surprising accounts of the 
 number of totally deaf persons — so-called deaf- 
 mutes — to be found in this country. It was 
 estimated in 1880 that there was one to less 
 than every fifteen hundred inhabitants, and the 
 census of 1890 gives a larger per cent. The 
 latter fact is not necessarily due to an increased 
 number in proportion to other persons in a com- 
 munity, but to greater exactness in compiling 
 statistics. It should be borne in mind that 
 these figures do not include the adults who have 
 grown deaf since childhood. We know from 
 our personal acquaintance with hard-of -hearing 
 people that many of them are well advanced in 
 years ; this, however, should not blind us to the 
 other fact that there are many comparatively 
 young persons who early in adult life are obliged 
 to relinquish active participation in many pleas- 
 ures and duties on account of deafness. It is 
 estimated that there are about three hundred 
 thousand persons in the United States, under 
 
10 FBEFACE. 
 
 twenty-five, who have grown deaf since their 
 teens. This statement was recently made in an 
 address by Dr. Alexander Graham Bell. The 
 large nnmber mentioned includes those who are 
 suffering from almost complete loss of aural 
 power. To them should be added those who 
 are somewhat deaf in one ear, those who are 
 obliged to take a forward seat in church and 
 public hall, and those who are conscious of a 
 gradual failing of the hearing sense and are 
 wondering how soon their friends will find it 
 out. 
 
 Stammering, stuttering, lisping, mumbling 
 and mouthing are heard in every town and 
 city. Dr. Lennox Browne says the average of 
 severe forms of speech-defects is twice as great 
 as the instances of inrpaired hearing. To the 
 two general classes, the deaf and the defective 
 in speech, must be added another which prop- 
 erly belongs to the deaf, namely, the children 
 and adults who receive sounds slowly, because 
 they lack quick perception. There are also per- 
 sons who fail to distinguish particular shades 
 of sound ; this peculiarity has been called sound- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 blindness. Prof. Le Conte says that, "in so 
 far as the phenomenon is physiological at all, 
 the defect is timbre-deafness. But it is prob- 
 ably, largely at least, a defect of perception and 
 not of sensation, and therefore psychological 
 and not physiological. ' ' 
 
 The object of the following chapters is to 
 show that fluent speech may be obtained and 
 understood, by all who suffer from the different 
 phases of deafness and the different degrees of 
 imperfect utterance. 
 
 •x- 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE DEAF-MUTE AND THE STAMMERER. 
 
 A T first glance, it would seem difficult to 
 find a reason for classing the deaf-mute 
 and the stammerer together. They appear to be 
 widely dissimilar, yet both are sufferers in 
 speech. One cannot talk because he cannot 
 hear; his organs of articulation are in perfect 
 condition, but his brain cannot prompt them to 
 actions of which it has no perception. The other 
 cannot speak smoothly and successfully because 
 his brain has imperfect control of the organs of 
 speech. It is thus obvious that hearing is req- 
 uisite to obtain articulate language in a natural 
 manner ; and, further, that to insure correct 
 speech something more is needed than an ear to 
 receive sounds and an auditory nerve to conduct 
 them to the brain. There are many activities 
 to be brought into play, the complete and har- 
 
 (13) 
 
14 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 monious development of all being essential to 
 ease and correctness of speech, and the failure 
 of any one to perform its part leading to more 
 or less serious results. 
 
 Sounds are received by the external ear, 
 which is marvelously adapted to the purpose, and 
 thence conveyed by the auditory nerve to that 
 portion of the brain whose function is to register 
 such impressions. This path is not open during 
 the infant's early days, the other senses — touch, 
 smell, taste, and sight — being active before that 
 of hearing; and even for a while after it might 
 be presumed to be aroused, there is difficulty in 
 judging fairly of its degree of susceptibility. A 
 loud noise may startle by the vibration of air 
 against the skin just as readily as by the ear ; a 
 slight one may appear to be heard when in reality 
 some other sense has happened to be the vehicle 
 of impression. Hence, many intelligent parents 
 have failed to discover deafness in their children 
 until the latter were old enough to be expected 
 to talk. 
 
 The first positive proof of hearing is in the 
 child's outcry of pleasure when affected by 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 15 
 
 music or other sound. A connection is thus es- 
 tablished between the ear and the organs of 
 articulation, though it does not imply a perfect 
 working of all the parts essential to correct 
 speech, for there is as yet no language. The 
 pretty cooing of the infant at other times is an 
 aimless play of lips and tongue, unguided by the 
 intellect. As the hearing becomes slightly 
 aroused, linguistic sounds are indistinguishable 
 compared with certain others, but are in some 
 way associated with the human face, which, to 
 the little being, looks like a white space. No 
 relation is perceived between the mouth and the 
 sounds it gives forth, so that the speech of the 
 normal child is not aided by watching that organ ; 
 he cannot even imitate any position of it after 
 being able to speak unless he hears something 
 accompanying the movement. Those about the 
 little one talk to it constantly, repealing over 
 and over certain forms of endearing speech and 
 common phrases until they become expressive of 
 meaning. It is believed that the child does not 
 grasp the complete word, but some portion— a 
 vowel, perhaps — fastens attention and serves to 
 
16 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 arouse interest the next time. "Weeks and 
 months of listening follow ; then come efforts to 
 repeat what has been heard, attempts that are 
 crude and widely different from the speech-mod- 
 els. Yet no one doubts the child's ultimate 
 success. He gains in confidence, secures sounds 
 more nearly a repetition of those he has heard, 
 and thus, through the familiar baby-talk, grows 
 in ability to reproduce accurately. All this 
 means a memorizing of sounds, syllables and 
 words, and leads to their grouping to express 
 thoughts and wishes, involving grammatical con- 
 struction and bringing into action faculties of 
 higher rank than mere memory. 
 
 The various phases of speech- disturbance not 
 dependent upon a malformation of the organs of 
 articulation, such as a cleft-palate, are due to 
 some defect in these channels. One child may 
 hear sounds in general, but cannot understand 
 spoken words because it has as yet no storehouse 
 for word-images ; another may use a small num- 
 ber of words and be without ability to give them 
 grammatical arrangement; others may frame 
 sentences with noticeable slowness ; or, one may 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 17 
 
 tinderstand, jet owing to want of coordination, 
 fail to repeat, while stammering and stuttering 
 are indicative of some degree of disturbance in 
 the regulation of the speech-impulse. In cor- 
 rectly articulating sentences is secured a mental 
 development obtainable in no other wav* 
 
 Such being the case with children who make 
 an attempt to talk, what is the condition which 
 leads to complete dumbness? It has been sup- 
 posed to be a defect in the middle ear or audi- 
 tory nerve; and such, indeed, is the difficulty in 
 all instances of deafness resulting from scarlet 
 fever and other inflammatory diseases, during 
 the progress of which the mechanism of the ear 
 is injured. A knowledge of the various activi- 
 ties necessary to insure hearing, however, com- 
 pels us to consider the possibilities of feeble per- 
 ception of sound in children who present little 
 or no history of ear-trouble. Because a child 
 does not respond to noises, he should not be 
 judged wholly deaf. He may suffer from, an 
 extreme condition of slowness of hearing, which, 
 if undeveloped, justifies the use of the expres- 
 sion, suppressed hearing. If he fails to recognize 
 
18 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 one sound, another is made before the first has 
 reached his mind. He must be taught that there 
 is such a thing as sound before he can respond 
 to it. The brain that fails to perceive cannot 
 prompt to action. It has been demonstrated that 
 this condition can be reached, and the child 
 taught to use, in some degree, the power he has 
 not realized naturally. 
 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE VERY YOUNG DEAF CHILD. 
 
 A S previously stated, touch, smell, taste and 
 sight, are actively aroused before hearing, 
 and perform duties in place of the ear in cases 
 of deafness. All these senses are rightly con- 
 sidered avenues to the brain, various portions of 
 which make use of the impressions thus con- 
 veyed. A person having an impaired condition 
 of any one of these senses, particularly of sight 
 or of hearing, is, in consequence, liable to a 
 warped development. Though the others serve 
 excellently as substitutes, they fail to take fully 
 the place of the one defective or lacking. This 
 is not noticeable in early infancy. It is difficult 
 to detect the absence of hearing during the first 
 twelve months. The very young deaf child goes 
 through the usual baby cooing, which is an un- 
 conscious action of the organs of speech, a plav 
 
 (19) 
 
20 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 gone through before any will-power can be man- 
 ifested in this direction. The eyes are quietly 
 alert, having perhaps fewer unnecessary move- 
 ments than are usual with the normal child, and 
 the facial muscles possess a certain inertia. 
 Later, while the hearing child is going through 
 the process of listening and storing up material 
 for future speech, the deaf one's eyes are taking 
 in far more than is usual in early years, and 
 noticing many movements made daily by people 
 which seldom if ever attract the attention of 
 persons endowed with a complete auditory ap- 
 paratus. 
 
 This is the first discernible characteristic of 
 the child suffering from lack of orderly devel- 
 opment of the speech -faculty through deafness, 
 which distinguishes him from his more fortunate 
 brothers and sisters. Then the playful forma- 
 tion of syllables ceases, silence follows, and later 
 a series of more or less unpleasantly harsh 
 grunts and screams are made. The other senses 
 become more acute ; the facial movements are 
 exaggerated and serve to express the thoughts 
 and feelings; the hands spring to the child's aid 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 21 
 
 by feeling the shapes of various objects, and 
 later going through the same motions from mem- 
 ory to describe or to ask for what has been 
 seen. In this way signs become a means of com- 
 munication. Those voluntarily employed by the 
 child are termed natural, because copied from 
 what he has seen people do, and they differ 
 widely from the arbitrary signs used in the edu- 
 cation of deaf-mutes. The latter are developed 
 by hearing persons to maintain a mental dis- 
 cipline for those pupils to whom little or no 
 speech is given. 
 
 The various acts of daily life are gone 
 through in pantomime, as the putting on and 
 off of hat and coat, which gestures soon do duty 
 to express going out and coming in. Any pe- 
 culiarity of feature is noticed and imitated as 
 far as possible, the child not hesitating to call 
 attention to a large nose or to a deformed hand 
 or foot. He should not be considered unkind 
 in so doing. He is merely in an observant state, 
 wholly oblivious to the effect it may have upon 
 others. He is but awakening to a realization of 
 his surroundings. 
 
22 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 This is the period when parents and others 
 
 discover that through the sense of hearing the 
 
 affections are reached, and that the deaf child is 
 
 cut off from an important means of cultivation. 
 
 Those who recall the many times that sounds 
 
 have changed their current of thought, brought 
 
 new views to their mental eye, and broken a 
 
 gloomy or wilful mood, should try to realize 
 
 what it would be to live without such influences, 
 
 before judging harshly of the deaf one's tenacity 
 
 of purpose and continuity of thought. 
 
 ' ' In sweet music is such high art, 
 Killing care and grief of heart. " 
 
 Constant efforts should be made to under- 
 stand the child's point of view. His mental 
 range is limited, indeed ; an avenue of com- 
 munication, and that one of the most im- 
 portant, is closed. Only half-impressions 
 reach him, giving many a twist to his mind 
 and puzzling his little brain. He bends all his 
 energies to the one path he sees before him, the 
 carrying out of his will. This is the time to 
 instill obedience. Don't wait for some other 
 moment; don't let him realize the power of a 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 23 
 
 ' ' scene. ' ' He can be taught now that certain 
 behavior brings punishment. He is not too young 
 to appreciate cause and effect as taught wisely 
 and kindly in the nursery. His future happi- 
 ness and usefulness depend upon this early train- 
 ing. The child who is obedient has developed 
 an amount of self-control that will assist him in 
 every undertaking of life. It is a great injustice 
 to deprive him of this shield under the belief 
 that he is happy now to be allowed to break a 
 toy, or play with a sharp knife, try the scissors 
 on the table-cloth or strangle the cat ; and that 
 sometime — some more favorable time — we will 
 teach him not to do those things. That favor- 
 able time never comes afterward. Now is the 
 moment. There is no reason why deaf children 
 should not be obedient. Their physical welfare 
 more often depends upon instant obedience than 
 is the case with those who hear. As they grow 
 older, they have the same impulse as others to 
 strike out for themselves, to be independent of 
 the staying hand. They become restive under 
 constant handling. Out of reach and wilful, 
 they are in danger of accident ; out of reach and 
 
24 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 trained to obey a warning look or gesture, they 
 have a means of protection. 
 
 It is often urged that the deaf one's disposi- 
 tion not to give up an idea once determined upon, 
 makes it almost impossible for him to develop 
 readiness to follow" another's wishes. To over- 
 come this tendency is a severe trial to the 
 patience of the adult in charge. Remembering 
 the child's imperfect perceptions should cause us 
 to avoid hasty actions. Give clear proof to him 
 that you understand him, that so far as it lies in 
 your power you wish to grant him every right- 
 ful pleasure. If you feel it in your heart, he 
 reads it in your face. Hearing is not necessary 
 to enable a young mind to know its friends. 
 When the time comes that you must oppose his 
 will, do it firmly but gently; give him no pun- 
 ishment that affords him a chance to retaliate. 
 Pinching and slapping are ignoble expedients 
 which he can imitate. He has no respect for 
 them. Firmness of will, accompanied by calm- 
 ness and what might be termed dignified forms 
 of punishment, awaken his respect, and respect 
 commands attention ; hence, the child is in a 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 25 
 
 reasonable mood. He is too wise to waste 
 strength in tears and kicks when lie knows they 
 will be unavailing. It is the one who carries 
 his point by so doing that indulges in such meth- 
 ods. 
 
 The child's conscience is formed from the 
 series of impressions he receives in the decided 
 approval or disapproval in the faces about him ; 
 and in time those alone are sufficient to command 
 obedience. Doing right from an intelligent 
 perception of its utility or nature per <§<?, is far 
 beyond him, but doing right because one he 
 respects and loves shows him it should be done, 
 is within his power and exerts a most happy in- 
 fluence. Thus obedience is obtained by an 
 appeal to the affections through the eye, and 
 depends upon example. When this becomes a 
 habit, it stimulates and develops the sentiment 
 or love of justice for its own sake. Pictures 
 are formed in the mind of the child by what he 
 sees, and from them he reasons. Mental ad- 
 vancement in cases of defective hearing requires 
 obedience for its cornerstone. 
 
 A healthy mind is dependent upon a healthy 
 
26 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 body ; accordingly, it is proper to consider the 
 hygienic care which the deaf child requires. 
 There is no disguising the fact that it is hard 
 work to take care of children, and the labor is 
 even greater with those that present some defect. 
 It is always more or less difficult to carry out in 
 practice much that we accept in theory. The 
 child whose food is regulated with wise care in 
 his early days is the one who will not be a slave 
 to his appetite ; it is wrong to pamper to his 
 whims, and later to expect intelligent selection 
 and temperate use of the good things of life. A 
 certain amount of nervous force must be used 
 in the act of digestion ; the more that is drawn 
 upon, the less there is left for other uses. It is 
 quite possible to become nothing but a food- 
 digesting machine, but surely there should be 
 something nobler in our aspirations. 
 
 Many children, but often the deaf ones, are 
 catarrhal subjects, and their tendency to conges- 
 tion of the mucous membrane may be lessened 
 by regulating the quantity as well as the quality 
 of food. , A distinguished authority has said : it 
 is better to eat sparingly of what may not agree 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 27 
 
 with one than too heartily of what is simple. 
 There is a growing conviction that more are suf- 
 fering from being overfed than underfed. Un- 
 questionably, many parents would be glad to be 
 instructed as to what is best, for ignorance is 
 often the cause of neglect. It would seem an 
 important work to enlighten the well-meaning 
 but often misguided mothers of the rising gen- 
 eration on the subject of food ; it would reduce 
 the number of weak ones, make the strong 
 stronger, lengthen life, promote happiness, and 
 set in motion a chain of events that would benefit 
 posterity incalculably. The world is full of all 
 that is excellent for sustaining bodily health. In- 
 telligent use of proper nutriment will give a good 
 physical foundation, without which intellectual 
 advancement and pleasures must fail to accom- 
 plish their legitimate effect. The chemistry of 
 food is becoming an exact science. Difference 
 of opinion regarding it exists with those only 
 who are not familiar with its principles. Surely 
 the time has come for its application to others 
 than the persons who are training for athletic 
 sports. 
 
28 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 ' ' Cold in the head " is a frequently men- 
 tioned cause of ear-disease. This fact is not 
 surprising when it is remembered that the 
 mucous membrane lining the various cavities of 
 the head, is a continuous surface. Lack of 
 proper care may drive a state of congestion from 
 one part to another. A susceptibility to ear- 
 trouble renders the organ of hearing a weak spot 
 which is soon assailed; the lining of the Eu- 
 stachian tubes may become swollen, and thus 
 prevent the free entrance of air to the middle 
 ear, or the inflammation itself may extend into 
 that cavity. It often happens that a slight 
 preexisting deafness may be made known for 
 the first time to the patient by a cold or a re- 
 duced condition of the system. The tendency 
 to ear-disease, and, indeed, to any phase of 
 catarrhal affection, can be kept in check by care 
 in clothing, ventilation, bathing and food. 
 
 A discharge from the ears should never be 
 allowed to continue. Salt water remaining in 
 the auditory canal may cause inflammation ; and 
 instances are on record of surf -bathers having 
 the drum-head ruptured by the waves. Boxing 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 29 
 
 the ear and an imperfect drying of the organ 
 have been known to cause serious results. When 
 the fact is remembered that the confirmed 
 mouth-breather not only acquires marked facial 
 peculiarities but also frequently develops deaf- 
 ness, let us resolve to shut our mouths, and 
 ' ' stretch the nostrils wide. ' ' 
 
 -h3#}e- 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SIGNS, FINGER- SPELLING AND SPEECH. 
 
 T^T'HAT the deaf child may become if al- 
 lowed to grow up without education is 
 not a pleasing picture to face. The past has 
 known what it is. Until a humanitarian spirit 
 lifted the deaf-mute out of the depths by giving 
 him instruction by signs, he was neglected, 
 pushed aside, hidden from view. He was re- 
 pulsive, intensely ignorant of anything beyond 
 food and drink, and looked upon as an irreclaim- 
 able idiot. Happily that is no longer the case. 
 The sign-teachers arranged a system of educa- 
 tion which put this class of persons, previously 
 supposed incapable of advancement, upon the 
 level of thinking, reasonable beings, living happy 
 lives because useful. Such results have followed 
 from giving them language. Language is the 
 
 want of the deaf child that must be supplied be- 
 
 (30) 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 31 
 
 fore he can progress in mental development. 
 Max Muller's theory that there is no thought 
 without language cannot be accepted by anyone 
 who has watched a young deaf child. Thought 
 certainly exists without words, but must have 
 aid from them or from signs for expression and 
 growth. Language, the clothing of thought, 
 leads to the comparison and modification of 
 ideas, the presentation of new views, the re- 
 moval of false impressions, and the stimulation 
 of intellectual activity. Without this vehicle of 
 expression the human being is as isolated as he 
 would be on a desert island, with the added dis- 
 advantage of having a mind utterly incapable 
 of rational comprehension of his surroundings. 
 He would be the victim of every wave of sen- 
 sation rushing through him, and wholly un- 
 governable. We live in a world of apparent 
 truths ; to the deaf child without language they 
 are real. 
 
 We are familiar with the manner in which 
 language is obtained by the normal child. It is 
 a long process, going on so quietly that we sel- 
 dom think of its wonders. It is only when it 
 
32 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 fails of accomplishment through defect in the 
 organ of hearing, through lack of perception 
 of sound, or through malformation or absence 
 of control of the organs of speech, that we stop 
 to consider it. 
 
 Being without a knowledge of sound the 
 young deaf child has no idea of words ; for him 
 they do not exist. He lives in a world of silence. 
 The facial expressions of the people about him 
 and the gestures they use are noticed by him. 
 He responds with similar signs. His mother 
 understands him, and he thrills with the pleasure 
 of being in communication with another mind. 
 A fresh impetus has been given to his thought, 
 and he has taken a step in mental development. 
 He has a language, meagre though it be. By 
 the use of simple signs 'thus voluntarily em- 
 ployed by the child and reciprocated by parents 
 and friends, he grows in perception of much 
 that surrounds him. An avenue has been found 
 for the brain struggling for an outlet. 
 
 If the child is sent to a State institution, a 
 variety of objects are placed before him, and he 
 learns to designate them by the expressive 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 33 
 
 gestures used by the teacher. These gestures 
 are devised by hearing persons, and are often 
 arbitrary. Later, a list of names of objects is 
 written upon a slate or a blackboard. As the 
 pupil knows nothing about writing, these words 
 are mysterious hieroglyphics to him ; but he is 
 taught their meaning by the teacher pointing to 
 an article, giving the already familiar descriptive 
 gesture, and then showing the written name. 
 Thus through signs the pupil is taught to write, 
 and in the written word he receives his first in- 
 sight into the language used by persons about 
 him. What his hearing brothers and sisters 
 learned in the cradle is thus revealed to him 
 much later in life. He cannot pronounce the 
 word, but he can write it. He learns the po- 
 sitions of the hands which express the letters 
 of the alphabet, and then he can spell the word 
 with his fingers. 
 
 Notice the difference between a conventional 
 sign and finger -spelling. The latter is just as 
 much English as the printed word. Therefore 
 it is an indication of higher development when 
 the child drops the sign and spells the word, 
 
34 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 Botli denote ideas ; the sign may be vague and 
 indefinite, but the word is a specific expression 
 of his thought. As he gains in ability to spell 
 and write the words in the orderly arrangement 
 of a sentence, the pupil becomes clearer in 
 thought, his misconceptions are removed, and 
 his intellectual activities are aroused and 
 expanded. 
 
 It has been said that a child is born into 
 the world with more intellect than talent for 
 language ; but the development of his intellect 
 certainly depends upon the perception of lan- 
 guage, and emphatically upon its use. It is not 
 enough to have ears and to listen. One must 
 give out his own thought ; he must be in recip- 
 rocal relation with others. 
 
 The deaf child taught by signs, finger-spel- 
 ling and writing can make himself understood 
 by others through the same mediums of com- 
 munication. The written words would be 
 intelligible to the many who can write, and the 
 signs and finger-alphabet only to the limited 
 number who are familiar with such modes of 
 expression. Yet the child is not using the most 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 35 
 
 satisfactory of all methods of communication. 
 He has not spoken. He is a deaf-mute, mute 
 because deaf. If he should be allowed to re- 
 main in this speechless condition, he will always 
 have the mark of a neglected education. Hear- 
 ing is not absolutely needed for the acquiring of 
 articulate speech, because the increased acuteness 
 of the other senses may be used for the purpose. 
 Even if the child has no articulate language 
 with which to ask questions, and thus is obliged 
 to gesticulate, teach him to look for replies in 
 the faces of those about him. Talk to him con- 
 stantly. In this way is laid the foundation to 
 the speech-reading habit. Less than thirty 
 years ago the deaf were not taught to speak : 
 now those who are placed in the large State 
 institutions may receive a greater or less amount 
 of such instruction ; while all who attend so- 
 called oral schools are given speech without the 
 use of signs, and by speech instructed in the 
 regular studies of children of their age. 
 
 Dr. J. C. Gordon, of the National Deaf-Mute 
 College, at Washington, D. C, recently stated 
 that the brain-structure of those deaf pupils who 
 
36 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 could speak and read the lips has been found to 
 be different from that of scholars who were not 
 taught to articulate ; and as brain-building means 
 mind -building, this is an excellent reason for 
 giving speech and lip-reading to the deaf. If, 
 to this knowledge of articulate language and the 
 ability to understand others by watching the 
 varying expressions of their faces, there be 
 added some degree of hearing, brought into use 
 by educative means, a fresh impetus is imparted 
 to the mental growth of what might have been 
 a deaf-mute. 
 
 Many persons who possess a full vocabulary 
 manifest less talent in arranging words than 
 others whose stock is more or less limited. In 
 the apt expression "sentence-building," we 
 have light thrown upon the faculty that directs 
 this work ; for one must have mechanical ability 
 in order to form strong and well-constructed 
 sentences. Among the deaf there is good per- 
 ception of the form, size and weight of objects, 
 but a hampered constructive talent. Unquestion- 
 ably much of their difficulty in building sentences 
 might be removed by attempts to remedy this 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 37 
 
 deficiency. Everything that sets in motion a 
 train of thought in regard to the putting to- 
 gether of parts of objects, is helpful preparation 
 for the language-lesson ; and all teachers who 
 forget the fact that a sentence is built by me- 
 chanical talent, ignore one of the chief factors 
 called into action. Thus, simple gestures form 
 a language for the little child ; the Carefully- 
 constructed system of arbitrary signs presents a 
 means for awakening and disciplining the men- 
 tal faculties ; the written sentence expresses the 
 more exact thought ; but speech exercises a still 
 more complex nervous mechanism. If there 
 should be doubt about this fact, consider the 
 stammerer's case. He knows to his sorrow that 
 comprehension alone avails him little, and that 
 being without full command of his organs of 
 articulation, he is at a positive disadvantage. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TEACHING THE DUMB TO SPEAK. 
 
 T NTELLIGIBLE articulation in a child who 
 has never heard, seems like a miracle to 
 most persons ; yet it must be plain to everyone 
 that such a child, while uneducated, could not 
 speak merely because he could not hear. His 
 vocal organs were not impaired. Speech is the 
 variously modified emission of breath. The 
 deaf child surely has breath enough for vital 
 purposes, why not for vocal ? Use is the grand 
 end of all faculties; therefore, persons who 
 possess organs of articulation should exercise 
 them in their various functions. Life is kept in 
 the body by the air received through the nose, 
 and sometimes, unfortunately, through the 
 mouth ; but the person who does not know how 
 to exhale the same air in speech or in song, does 
 
 not fully develop his lungs. The dumb person 
 
 (88) 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 39 
 
 is, therefore, especially liable to pulmonary 
 troubles. By this statement I do not mean that 
 everyone who speaks or sings uses his organs 
 properly ; it is, indeed, often the reverse. Who 
 has not noticed the audible breathing of a singer, 
 by which the beauty of his, or more frequently 
 her, vocalization is seriously marred ? How few 
 can read aloud, even in a small room which does 
 not demand any strain of voice, without feeling 
 a sensation of breathlessness. Unquestionably 
 there is much room for improvement in the 
 lung- capacity of most people. No one, however, 
 is competent to teach a cleaf child to articulate, 
 who has not a scientific knowledge of the mech- 
 anism of speech. 
 
 A child's happy state is absolutely the first 
 essential for securing a warm or affectionate tone 
 of voice, because, even among the hearing, such 
 a condition of mind relieves the vocal bands 
 from unnatural tension. The prompting to 
 action of the organs of speech comes from the 
 affections more than from the intellect. We 
 will to speak before we can go through the act 
 of articulating. If moved by pleasurable sensa- 
 
40 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 tions, the quality of voice is smooth and agree- 
 able ; but if any intensity is felt, the tone re- 
 veals that condition to the alert listener. Hence, 
 the first fact for the teacher to bear in mind is 
 that all methods that fasten attention upon any 
 part of the child's body, such as the throat or 
 the chest, cause the vocal bands to act in an un- 
 natural manner. The development of pure, 
 resonant tones must depend upon the pupil's 
 thoughts being thrown out and away from him- 
 self. The purpose of voice is to reach someone. 
 All vocalization made without a directing or a 
 projecting of thought toward another being, 
 present either in reality or in imagination, lacks 
 true life and becomes smothered and dull in 
 quality. 
 
 There is no better way for the deaf child to 
 exercise his lungs in a healthful manner than 
 to blow papers or feathers about ; it is equally 
 useful to the hearing child, though perhaps not 
 so imperatively demanded. The act of blowing 
 throws the air in the lungs through the relaxed 
 vocal bands ; and because the child's attention is 
 directed to something at a distance, there is no 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 41 
 
 unnatural tension. The pupil is not aware of 
 how he is managing his breath. That is as it 
 should be. In the rapid flow of conversation, 
 we certainly are not conscious of how our organs 
 of speech are acting, or, rather, we should not 
 be. If we are, there is manifestly some defect 
 in our speech, and the seriousness of the defect 
 is in proportion to the amount of our conscious- 
 ness. 
 
 The foundation of a structure should be well 
 laid; the action of the pupil's lungs, accord- 
 ingly, should be correct. That being assured, 
 one is well supplied with the material of speech 
 — the breath. The next step in attaining good 
 articulation is to secure the adjustment of the 
 vocal bands that will convert this breath at will 
 into pure voice. This is attained by a careful 
 approximation and tension of the cords; and 
 the teacher who understands the proper work- 
 ings within the wonderful voice-box, as the 
 larynx is termed, will produce results with the 
 pupil's delicate instruments that the ear will 
 recognize as agreeable tones. 
 
 The voice formed in the larynx is molded 
 
42 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 into the numerous vowels by various positions 
 assumed by tongue, lips and soft-palate, and 
 into consonants by decided actions of the same 
 organs. Vowels are the life of speech ; in them 
 lies expressive voice. The consonants are the 
 receptacles giving temporary limits to the vocal- 
 ized breath. Thus the secret of agreeable voices 
 among the deaf is instruction based upon per- 
 fect action of the edges of the glottis. This 
 assured, vowels and consonants may be com- 
 bined, and thus words are formed. The hear- 
 ing child has listened for months before attempt- 
 ing to talk, having gradually gained confidence 
 in the use of his own organs, and imitating as 
 nearly as possible the sounds he hears about him. 
 His first efforts are very crude. Yet, as we 
 have already recognized, no one doubts his suc- 
 cess. Let the same confidence be manifested 
 toward the deaf child in his early lessons. It 
 will be seen that care in securing correct posi- 
 tions for sounds brings out lines of beauty in his 
 face, which was previously disfigured by un- 
 pleasant and unnecessary movements. 
 
 How is the pupil to understand the meaning 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 43 
 
 of the words he learns? It is necessary to 
 explain them by the natural signs he knows; 
 and thus his first spoken, as well as his first 
 written words, must be equivalent for the same 
 objects he has designated by a gesture, for the 
 daily actions going on about him, or for the 
 qualities he has appreciated by taste, touch and 
 smell. Single words thus become intelligible to 
 him. He drops the sign or the finger- spelling 
 and speaks ; his vocabulary enlarges. Now a 
 new difficulty presents itself. Of the grouping 
 of words to form phrase or sentence the pupil 
 has no knowledge. Moreover, when they are 
 grouped he does not grasp the shades of mean- 
 ing which they convey to the hearing person. 
 He is likely to say ' ' sugar like, ' ' to express his 
 fondness for the sweet; "horse car go," to 
 him means ' ' I shall go in a horse car. ' ' He has 
 no use for " a, " u an " or " the. ' ' He is con- 
 temptuous of the changes of tense, and is baffled 
 by idioms. 
 
 No one can realize without experience the 
 need of patience and ingenuity in the teacher 
 who imparts language to the deaf child. No 
 
44 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 one can have sufficient of these qualities who 
 does not strive to keep in mind the pnpil's 
 limited range and thus bear with his ignorance. 
 The hearing person studying a foreign tongue 
 has his own language to help him. The gram- 
 mar can be remembered because similar or dis- 
 similar to his own ; the arrangement of words 
 by resemblance or want of resemblance to the 
 forms in his mother tongue. Nothing of the 
 kind is present in the mind of the child born 
 deaf. He knows no reason why words should 
 be arranged in a certain order. Day by day, 
 certain forms are repeated until, brought into 
 play on every appropriate occasion, they are 
 used spontaneously. Fortunately, the pupil 
 does not know what is before him. Ignorant 
 of the amount he has yet to learn, he absorbs 
 his daily allowance of language, his ideas expand 
 and his mind unfolds. All is delightful to him. 
 It is the teacher who feels the great work to be 
 accomplished. 
 
 Instruction in speech through the eye culti- 
 vates in that organ the ability to follow the 
 varying expressions in the teacher's face as 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 45 
 
 quickly as they appear, and thus to receive 
 thought through that medium instead of by 
 hearing. Persons reading this statement will 
 look up at someone present, and, after watching 
 the face in conversation, will wonder how it is 
 possible for any being to follow the movements 
 seen and thereby understand speech. They at- 
 tempt too much at once. Preliminary steps 
 must be taken. The little child just beginning 
 to read cannot scan a page quickly. Success in 
 speech -reading means an education of the eye 
 secured by long practice. Its attainment by the 
 deaf child grows with his knowledge of spoken 
 language. The wonderful organ which gives us 
 so much happiness, and which we find, early in 
 life, can carry messages to the brain in behalf of 
 some dormant sense, must concentrate its gaze 
 upon a small space, — the human face. The 
 range is limited and thus more detail is notice- 
 able. Attention is not diverted by general 
 movements embodying arbitrary or natural 
 signs, to the hand and arm, or to the whole 
 figure. There is an opportunity constantly to in- 
 crease an appreciation of shades of expression, just 
 
46 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 as a discernment of the nice distinctions of well- 
 chosen words may be attained. The result is 
 that the deaf child follows in the face of another 
 the details of a story with all the relish that the 
 hearing would have in listening. There is no 
 staring, but simply a quiet, steady gaze. 
 
 Correct, fluent speech, with a more or less 
 agreeable voice, and the ability to understand 
 others by watching the facial movements, may 
 be acquired by the boy or the girl suddenly de- 
 prived of hearing by illness or born deaf. To 
 secure these desirable gifts, the pupil must be 
 educated by a system which gives speech in the 
 early years and imparts all instruction through 
 that medium. Prof. A. S. Hill, in calling 
 attention to the poor showing in written language, 
 even among the college-bred, dwells upon the 
 importance of practice sufficient to enable the 
 pupil to write without consciousness of the 
 mechanical difficulties ; he defines that as the 
 first essential in efforts to acquire a good style. 
 "A boy must have written much before he can 
 form his letters without special pains ; and much 
 more before he can set down what he has to say 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 47 
 
 without stumbling over punctuation, spelling 
 and grammar ; and more still before be can write 
 with facility. ' ' 
 
 Upon the same principle, the deaf child must 
 articulate words long before he can do so readily ; 
 must speak in sentences long before he can do 
 so fluently ; and must talk on every occasion to 
 his teacher, to his mates, in his lesson, and in 
 his play before he can do so easily to the stranger 
 and in society. Practice is the only means by 
 which spontaneous use of the vocal organs may 
 be attained. Nothing else will do away with a 
 consciousness of the mechanical difficulties. In 
 this healthful exercise of the lungs lies the pre- 
 vention of pulmonary diseases to which the deaf- 
 mute is peculiarly subject. 
 
 *~^ O. cr» 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CHILD SUDDENLY DEAF AND THE CHILD CROW- 
 ING- DEAF SLOWLY. 
 
 r^VlTRING childhood an illness such as 
 ^^^ diphtheria or spinal meningitis may 
 cause serious if not complete deafness. As the 
 patient recovers strength, he finds that he can- 
 not understand other people. His own speech 
 becomes sadly affected, thick and indistinct, and 
 his voice changes to an unnatural tone ; or he 
 may lose what little prattle he formerly possessed. 
 If he should be under a year in age and had not 
 spoken, his deafness will not be known for a 
 time ; long- continued silence on his part, how- 
 ever, will reveal the truth. Such a child is too 
 young to realize what has befallen him; and 
 though he* has perceived sounds for a number of 
 months, and development of the speech-faculty 
 has, in consequence, begun with him, he has little 
 
 (48) 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 49 
 
 advantage over the child born deaf. However, 
 of that little, much can be made, if his organs 
 have not been so injured as to render them use- 
 less. The trouble is that, too often, valuable time 
 is lost before his condition is realized. 
 
 Various intricate workings of the brain have 
 slowly brought out the speech-faculty in the older 
 child ; and when we remember that the moral 
 effect of such an experience is great enough to 
 make the use of the word ' ' hearing ' ' synony- 
 mous with u obedience," it will be evident that 
 his mind is in a very different condition from 
 that of the child born deaf. However, he is 
 just as unable to understand others. He is over- 
 powered by the silence, even half maddened, 
 and frequently gives way to violent demonstra- 
 tions of his irritability. Great patience and 
 forbearance must be exercised toward him. Yet 
 the necessity for some degree of discipline is 
 obvious, because he may expose himself to dan- 
 ger, or injure others in his outbursts of passion. 
 His articulation may become unintelligible. Not 
 very many years ago, such children were forbid- 
 den to speak when placed in the institutions. 
 
50 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 Fortunately, this cruel silencing is no longer 
 enforced, and now earnest effort is made to pre- 
 serve their speech, even if, in the same school, 
 pupils born deaf are not taught to articulate. 
 
 To retain the speech of the child stricken 
 with deafness, is an imperative duty, but it is 
 not all. He should be taught hp-reading, or 
 speech-reading, as it is sometimes called. Per- 
 haps he was not old enough to attend school 
 before his illness ; in such cases no time should 
 be lost in beginning his education. Even if he 
 remains weak and languid, as he often does after 
 such an experience, a few minutes of daily in- 
 struction will do much for his happiness by giv- 
 ing employment to his mind. 
 
 Some authorities go to the length of calling 
 lip-reading a species of sign-reading. They 
 argue that the movements of the lips are signs 
 made by them just as much as the motions of 
 the hands are sign-meaning gestures. It may 
 not be necessary to differ from this opinion be- 
 yond the suggestion that the movements of the 
 facial muscles are results of the actions of the 
 articulating organs, and are not any special mo- 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 51 
 
 tions made for the benefit of the deaf. If such 
 demonstrations are classified as signs, it may be 
 as well to state that hearing is but a species of 
 feeling. A light pressure upon the skin is per- 
 haps recognized more quickly as a sensation of 
 touch, but in reality is no more so than is the 
 pressure of a wave of air against the ear-drum. 
 Whether lip-reading be called a sign-reading or 
 not, it is certainly a highly satisfactory method 
 of communication, and use of it brings the deaf 
 child or adult more nearly on the plane of the 
 normal human being than anything else can. 
 
 Sound may sometimes be appreciated by bone- 
 conduction, and at times it is puzzling to decide 
 whether the ears have acted or not ; for, if one 
 defective ear be tested while the other is closed 
 by pressure of the finger, the impression to the 
 patient is that he has heard with both ears. In- 
 deed, he may hear equally well when both aural 
 organs are closed. Dr. Alexander Graham 
 Bell converses with his mother, who is pro- 
 foundly deaf, by placing his lips on one of her 
 closed eyes. 
 
 The young child rendered deaf by disease 
 
52 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 should be carefully studied in all these ways, and 
 every means should be employed to retain a per- 
 ception of sound. At the risk of repetition, I 
 would urge the necessity of wise training. There 
 have been instances of children suffering from 
 impairment of hearing, who were allowed to do 
 as they pleased until they became the terror of 
 their acquaintances, and their undisciplined 
 minds proved capable of devising disastrous mis- 
 chief. If the child becomes completely deaf, 
 he is obliged to use his eyes to some advantage ; 
 but if he retains hearing enough to perceive 
 loud sounds, and he is not properly trained, his 
 eyes are of no more use to him than his ears are. 
 He is a lawless being, noisy and unlovable. His 
 lower nature develops faster than his higher, 
 and his moral perceptions become blunted. 
 
 There are many educated persons who lost 
 their hearing in early childhood and retained 
 their speech, but who have only recently taken 
 up lip-reading. They regret exceedingly that 
 they were not taught this art from the first. 
 One undertook the study because a change of 
 circumstances required every exertion that she 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 53 
 
 could make. So much enlarged have been her 
 experiences in consequence, that she says with 
 enthusiasm that ' i the best thing that ever hap- 
 pened to me was to be obliged to earn my own 
 living. ' ' Others are equally eloquent in stating 
 that despondency has been dissipated by this 
 brightening influence in their lives. A teacher 
 and editor who became deaf when fourteen has 
 learned to read the lips during the last four 
 years. He says that frequently it seems to him 
 that he hears the words which, in reality, he 
 has only seen revealed in the faces of those 
 about him. Such experiences should prove the 
 great importance of giving this power to every 
 deaf child, but most particularly to everyone 
 who has once heard and thus already possesses 
 language. I would again urge that such in- 
 struction be not deferred until the deafness is 
 almost total. Let lip-reading be considered a 
 necessary part of the education of all who lack 
 normal hearing. Its use will relieve the strain 
 of attention on the ears, and frequently make it 
 impossible for others to recognize the aural 
 defect, which would otherwise be very apparent. 
 
54 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 A change of circumstances has been known to 
 arouse to action a small degree of hearing that 
 remained after illness in infancy. An interesting 
 instance was a child of American parentage born 
 in India, who was brought to this country in a 
 sailing-vessel. In the long weeks of quiet on 
 board the ship, the little one awoke to a con- 
 sciousness of vocal sounds that were before un- 
 noticed, and she then made her first efforts to 
 speak. 
 
 When the deafness resulting from disease is 
 but slight, the child is much more likely to be 
 neglected through lack of knowledge on the part 
 of his parents as to what his condition demands. 
 He is sent to school, where, perhaps, the fact 
 that his hearing is impaired may not be known 
 by the teacher. He may be aware that he hears 
 badly ; he certainly cannot turn both ears at the 
 same time toward the person speaking, and thus 
 in his anxiety he forms the habit of listening 
 with only one ear. Both may have been equally 
 good, but continual effort of attention through 
 one renders the other useless. The child should 
 be taught to use the left and the right ear on 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 55 
 
 alternate occasions. His deafness may be so 
 comparatively slight at first as to be scarcely 
 noticeable ; but frequently that is the beginning 
 of a progressive disease, which slowly shuts the 
 individual out of the world of sound. He seems 
 inattentive at. times. It is seen that he shrinks 
 from meeting strangers, and after a while, that 
 he understands when one person talks with him, 
 but is confused by the conversation of two or 
 more people. At school he may be censured for 
 the indifference he manifests in recitations ; or 
 he may grow mischievous and be given a seat in 
 the back of the room to prevent him from 
 attracting the attention of other pupils. In that 
 case, being farther off from the teacher than be- 
 fore, he is less likely to keep up with the grade 
 of his class, and is dropped for someone else to 
 struggle with. 
 
 Such treatment is undeniably injustice ; and it 
 would not be usual if instructors of young chil- 
 dren were acquainted with general facts re- 
 garding the sense of hearing. A child possessing 
 but a small amount of aural power, who has 
 once had a good perception of sound, could 
 
56 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 maintain his place in any ordinary school if, 
 from the 'first manifestation of his deafness, he 
 were taught to use his eyes in the place of his 
 ears. Special instruction would probably be 
 necessary in order to give him the general prin- 
 ciples of speech -reading ; but it would be well 
 for him to be thrown in contact with children of 
 good hearing. For the sake of his future, he 
 should not be set apart as one necessarily differ- 
 ent from others because deaf. He must live 
 with hearing people in adult life, take his part 
 in the business or professional world, and find 
 pleasure in social intercourse with his equals in 
 refinement and education. What, therefore, 
 could fit him for such experience better than 
 school life with children who are not only free 
 from defects of aural perception, but whose 
 senses are all in normal condition, and whose 
 minds are possibly models of symmetry and 
 grace ? 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HEARING CAN BE IMPROVED AND DEVELOPED. 
 
 INHERE are various kinds of deafness. We 
 will consider first that which is due to 
 functional disability of the ear. This may be 
 serious enough to cause complete loss of hearing, 
 or so slight as to be little noticed except by the 
 individual himself; between these are many 
 degrees. Everyone knows among his acquaint- 
 ances persons who are suffering from sudden or 
 progressive deafness, dating from a disease such 
 as scarlet fever, or from a succession of severe 
 colds of a catarrhal nature. We call them hard- 
 of -hearing people. They have learned to speak 
 in the normal manner, and by that means have 
 obtained a knowledge of the structure of the 
 language, and are perfectly familiar with lin- 
 guistic sounds. In consequence, they can make 
 intelligent use of the amount of hearing they 
 
 (57) 
 
58 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 retain. Such persons can be assisted by means 
 of a conversational tube or hearing trumpet. 
 Street noises and the rumble of a railroad train 
 increase hearing-power in many cases. The 
 pleasure arising from the use of these mechani- 
 cal aids is oftentimes great enough to cause 
 changes in habits and tastes. 
 
 Let us emphasize the fact that all impressions 
 conveyed through diseased ears in adults can be 
 made use of directly. This is also the case with 
 all children who had sufficient hearing to enable 
 them to speak at the normal age. All the com- 
 plex nervous mechanism necessary for articulate 
 speech obtained in the natural manner has been 
 set in motion ; the only hindrance is the more 
 or less serious inability of the organ of hearing 
 to perform its duty. 
 
 If, however, the impaired usefulness of the 
 ears should be present in a marked degree in 
 very early childhood, it would render impossible 
 the months of listening without conscious effort 
 by which the speech-faculty is developed in the 
 normal human being. We have then an in- 
 stance in which the child receives sound impres- 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 59 
 
 sions imperfectly, and from the fact that he has 
 never known them otherwise, he cannot make 
 use of his ability, though it be of the same 
 degree possessed by the hard-of -hearing adult. 
 He is utterly unaware of its possibilities. He 
 is, to all practical purposes, extremely deaf. 
 Without special instruction through the eye he 
 remains mute. While we believe that the im- 
 portance of articulation and speech-reading ob- 
 tained in this way cannot be over-estimated, we 
 should not forget that all the mental operations 
 of the normal human being are attained by very 
 different processes. Just as the teacher trains 
 the hand in the mysteries of writing, he should 
 be prepared to educate to some degree the given 
 amount of hearing. We must carry out nature's 
 method of teaching the child to hear. What- 
 ever mechanical aid proves beneficial should be 
 employed. All that is done in this direction is 
 rightfully called a means of improving the 
 hearing. 
 
 However, an impaired condition of the middle 
 ear or of the auditory nerve is not the only cause 
 of deafness. There are many instances of chil- 
 
60 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 dren presenting little or no history of ear-disease. 
 It has been usual to believe deafness in such 
 cases to be due to malformation or arrested 
 development ; many times it is lack of percep- 
 tion of sound instead. Presuming the middle 
 ear and the auditory nerve to be able to perform 
 their functions, if there is a "dormant condition 
 of that portion of the brain whose duty is to act 
 with them, the consciousness is not reached. 
 The child does not know what sound is. He is 
 as completely beyond its influence, as we are 
 unmindful of the striking of a clock or of some 
 other noise when we are deep in a " brown 
 study. ' ' 
 
 Here is a serious defect in the perceptive 
 functions of the brain. Educative means are 
 helpful in arousing some degree of activity in 
 these cases. Instrumental aids are not of value. 
 Great volume of sound must be avoided, or else 
 there is shock and confusion with utter inability 
 to distinguish differences. Noise is a source of 
 worry. The instruction by ear should be en- 
 tirely unaided by the eye, to follow nature's 
 plan. If vision and hearing are allowed to work 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 61 
 
 together, no memory for sound is formed, but 
 merely another appeal is made to such impres- 
 sions as have been obtained through the eye. The 
 results are that the pupil retains any peculiarity 
 of utterance he may have acquired, and a cer- 
 tain amount of tension of the organs of articula- 
 tion due to long-enforced thought of them, 
 while he can seldom understand a new word 
 unless he sees it pronounced. On the contrary, 
 instruction which compels the hearing to rely 
 upon its single efforts gives in time the power to 
 appreciate the various elements of the language ; 
 and, as all words are but arrangements of some 
 few of these same elements, new ones can be 
 repeated as readily as familiar ones. 
 
 This kind of instruction assists the developing 
 of hearing. It is slower, and entirely different 
 from the educating of that which has become 
 impaired by organic disease and is already known 
 and appreciated by the individual. Various 
 sounds are recognized and enjoyed before the 
 human voice is noticed ; the power to determine 
 the source of these sounds grows by constant 
 practice ; words are heard when spoken near the 
 
62 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 ear, their familiarity admitting of longer dis- 
 tance later ; memorizing of these words finally 
 takes place, and even after the child can hear 
 and repeat, there is a noticeable slowness in the 
 process. Then follows the ability to remember 
 several words and to repeat them in the order in 
 which they were heard. Later, a complete 
 sentence is appreciated, and a reply of some 
 kind promptly given. It is evident that rea- 
 soning from facts obtained through the hearing 
 is much slower in these children for a time than 
 is the .case when the information is received 
 through speech-reading, thereby proving the 
 presence of a new activity. 
 
 Thus, ' ' improvement of hearing ' ' refers to 
 relief from functional difficulty, and ' ■ develop- 
 ment of hearing ' ' to special mental discipline. 
 In cases of functional difficulty, as previously 
 mentioned, a gain is perceptible much sooner 
 than in the cases of lack of perception. There 
 is also much more slowness in the prompting of 
 the organs of speech when the latter exists, such 
 slowness as to make the practical use of the 
 hearing possibly a small one. Yet all must 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 63 
 
 admit that a little hearing is better than none. 
 The children's minds have been opened to some 
 of the beauties of sound, and words expressive 
 of such ideas have assumed a different meaning. 
 A parallel is found in those individuals who 
 were born blind and have been relieved by 
 operations. Reports of such cases are very 
 explicit regarding the inability of the patients to 
 make use of their new power for a while. They 
 were taught to see ; let the deaf be taught to 
 hear. 
 
 Remarkable results have followed the careful 
 development of the auditory sense in children 
 who were previously judged to be wholly deaf. 
 Therefore, it is fitting I should urge that hear- 
 ing receive the special attention it deserves. 
 Instruction is defective which does not include 
 the education of every sense. That which enters 
 by the eye appeals to the intellect or under- 
 standing and thence to the affections; that 
 which enters by the ear appeals directly to the 
 heart as well as to the understanding. When 
 both eye and ear are cultivated there is a sin- 
 
64 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 gular association between colors and sounds; 
 under certain conditions, the exciting of one 
 sense increases the acuteness of the other and the 
 different sensations reinforce one another. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 HOW THE HARD -OF -HEARING ADULT MAY ENJOY 
 CONVERSATION. 
 
 " I ^ACT is the great essential for the adult 
 who is growing deaf. He needs pres- 
 ence of mind on all occasions of social inter- 
 course, even if they be limited to members of 
 his own family or to business and professional 
 associates. In the first place, he should com- 
 mand the situation, and not let any person go 
 behind him. He must be ready to see who is 
 going to speak, and, as far as possible, should 
 hold conversation in his own hands. The very 
 effort thus to be alert will call out his reserve 
 force, and his attentive condition will keep him 
 in touch with others. Do not refuse to use 
 artificial aids to hearing. Conversational tubes 
 and trumpets may not be as commonly employed 
 
 as are eyeglasses and spectacles, but they would 
 
 (65) 
 
66 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 be nearly as much so if persons who need them 
 were willing to show them. Try all, and find- 
 ing that some one kind helps you, carry it 
 always and adjust it on important occasions, if on 
 no others. Do not get into the habit of using 
 but one ear ; make an effort to use the poorer 
 one sometimes. 
 
 Certain forms of aural trouble, including noises 
 in the head, may be relieved by an operation. 
 The drum-head is removed, the middle ear 
 reached as it can be in no other way, and the 
 progress of an insidious disease stopped. This 
 operation has been perfected during the past 
 seven or eight years; as a rule, many persons 
 wait until extreme deafness is present before 
 they seek such a method for relief. 
 
 To avoid the fatigue arising from prolonged 
 attention, call upon the eye for assistance. The 
 sense of hearing is so commonly regarded as the 
 only medium through which spoken language is 
 understood, that it is difficult for most persons 
 to realize the possibility of reaching the same 
 result by any other means. The adult slowly 
 losing aural perception finds most of the pleas- 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 67 
 
 ures of life slipping out of his reach ; he is grad- 
 ually but surely shut in upon himself. This is 
 because he has not learned to make one sense 
 act in place of another. Through hereditary 
 influences he has acquired language by the ear ; 
 through educative means he may continue to 
 enjoy conversation by the eye. Everyone who 
 is conscious that his powers of hearing are 
 diminishing should remember that the lack of 
 one sense may be nearly made up by the in- 
 creased acuteness of all the others, and should 
 strive to form the habit of looking at the faces 
 of those with whom he converses. It is not to 
 be expected that the eye will help him at once 
 to understand what is said. There is no royal 
 road to speech-reading, any more than to music 
 or mathematics. We must learn to do slowly 
 and surely before we can secure ease and 
 rapidity. 
 
 The organs of articulation are more or less 
 hidden, but their activity produces effects on 
 the muscles of the face. These effects may be 
 called pictures ; they are memorized, and the 
 eye is trained by practice to follow the chang- 
 
68 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 ing of one into another and to associate each 
 with the sound thus formed. Printed and writ- 
 ten words — even the newly-coined ones — are 
 but arrangements and rearrangements of the 
 simple alphabetical characters ; spoken words 
 are groupings of the elementary sounds of the 
 language. One familiar with the letters can 
 recognize the printed word, and one equally 
 familiar with the appearance given to the fea- 
 tures by the various elements can grasp the 
 spoken word. By a knowledge of the different 
 expressions, the eye is enabled to perceive a 
 combination of two or more when given slowly ; 
 by practice the ability is acquired to follow a 
 rapid play of the features. Words are thus 
 learned ; next, short colloquial phrases ; and, 
 later, whole sentences. Finally, a complete 
 thought is thus conveyed to the mind. This is 
 illustrated by the fact that in time the pupil 
 will give a synonym instead of the actual word 
 spoken. This peculiarity is an interesting proof 
 of the direct communication between the eye 
 and the speech-centre, developed by educative 
 means, and finds its parallel in our usual in- 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 69 
 
 ability to give the exact words we have heard 
 spoken, though we can readily express the 
 thought clothed in our own language. 
 
 Speech-reading acquired to this extent is un- 
 accompanied by a consciousness of the medium 
 through which ideas are conveyed, and becomes 
 a thoroughly satisfactory method of communi- 
 cation. Those who, from lack of confidence, 
 feel that they can never attain this art should 
 remember that they did not learn to scan a page 
 in a short length of time. They may have for- 
 gotten how they were taught to read — if in the 
 old-fashioned way, let us hope they have — but 
 they may form some idea by taking up the study 
 of a foreign language. 
 
 In a public place we see groups of people 
 engaged in animated conversation. We see the 
 interest in their faces and the expression of their 
 eyes; we almost know their words. We may 
 know them if we apply the science of physi- 
 ognomy, combined with a knowledge of the 
 movements articulation gives to the features. 
 The eye can take upon itself certain duties of 
 the ear. At first it is untrained. To the be- 
 
70 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 ginner, the motions of the organs of speech are 
 too rapid to convey any impression of what is 
 said. Their definite positions can be learned, and 
 with them the fact is grasped that the varying 
 expressions caused by them are flitting pictures 
 which, in connection with the language of the 
 other facial muscles, transmit the ideas of others 
 to the brain of the deaf or partially deaf person. 
 One is fully conscious of using a new instru- 
 ment; the strangeness of it makes more impres- 
 sion than the thought conveyed. Frequent 
 journeys over a new path make a beaten track ; 
 the notched trees are no longer noticed; one is 
 sure of his road, and speeds on his errand. 
 Thus, in time, an idea may be received without 
 consciousness of the medium by which it was 
 conveyed. 
 
 This method of communication has been 
 called lip-reading; but more is seen than the 
 motions of the lips. It has also been termed 
 speech-reading ; but more than speech is con- 
 veyed. The spirit of the thought and the em- 
 phasis of the voice are transmitted as well as the 
 mechanical action of articulation. The appear- 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 71 
 
 ance of words on lips and tongue is but a part 
 of this expression-reading. A defective audi- 
 tory sense is not necessary to the acquiring of 
 this art. Articulation-teaching to the deaf de- 
 mands a sensitiveness of hearing ; yet probably 
 there is no one engaged in the work who does 
 not put his knowledge of speech-reading to 
 various practical uses. Such teachers are able 
 to give valuable aid to adults growing deaf, and 
 should be sought by them for the purpose of 
 being started rightly in speech-reading. Some 
 people can develop an unconscious use of this 
 method of communication. They will acknowl- 
 edge that they can hear better if they can see 
 the face of the person talking ; but in many 
 cases they are not convinced of sight acting in 
 the place of hearing until experiment has proved 
 it beyond a doubt. Instances have occurred of 
 such persons understanding conversation con- 
 ducted in a low voice while watching faces, 
 though shouts made at the same time by unseen 
 people at short range did not disturb them. 
 
 Quite as interesting is the statement of some 
 persons that they can follow by the eye what is 
 
72 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 said, if the subject is only made known to them 
 in advance by a loud voice or in writing. Simi- 
 larity of thought has developed stereotyped forms 
 of expression. The vocabulary of the average 
 man and woman is limited. Given the conver- 
 sationalist and his subject and you have the key 
 to his words. This fact explains why conversa- 
 tion through the eye to a certain extent can be 
 understood by many. If no greater proficiency 
 were attainable it would be comfort to the 
 thousands, young and old, who to-day are living 
 isolated lives in the midst of excitements they 
 long to share. However, special instruction 
 would assist the diffident ones and put all on 
 sure ground. 
 
 Deaf people are sensitive and painfully realize 
 the publicity given by talking to them in a loud 
 voice. A slight hold on the accomplishment of 
 expression -reading would enable them to keep 
 in touch with much around them, and a stronger 
 command would put them in cordial relations 
 with the world's workers. The older people 
 regret to see so much slipping away from them ; 
 it is hard with ripening experience and fuller 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 73 
 
 appreciation of life to find various interests dis- 
 appearing one by one. Statistics show that 
 there are in this country an immense number of 
 persons under twenty-five who have only re- 
 cently grown deaf — young men and young 
 women who have never had an opportunity to 
 taste what the older ones are relinquishing ! 
 Speech -reading can help these people. With 
 every incentive to exertion, they can acquire in- 
 creased power of observation, make use of a 
 new mode of communication, and be better able 
 to take their rightful places in the world. 
 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DULL PUPILS. 
 
 T N the schools there are many dull pupils. 
 Why are they dull ? Because an utterance 
 of the teacher reaches their consciousness only 
 after a considerable interval. Being slow in 
 hearing, they are, in consequence, slow in reply- 
 ing. They are easily embarrassed ; they forget 
 what they were going to say, or fail to make the 
 vocal organs obedient servants to their wills. 
 The same children frequently show an aptitude 
 for work in lines which require a different set 
 of faculties. Many a child is considered stupid 
 who is merely suffering from a defect in hearing. 
 Before classifying pupils it should be the prac- 
 tice of teachers to test the children's auditory 
 sense. It is equally important to ascertain the 
 length of time requisite for each one to prompt 
 his vocal organs in imitations; and if it be 
 
 (74) 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 75 
 
 longer than normal the faculty should be edu- 
 cated to quicker operations. 
 
 Many an adult is obliged to retain a humbler 
 place in life than he might occupy if he were 
 not slow of comprehension. We do not make 
 sufficient allowance for the fact that considerable 
 time is necessary for the auditory nerve to carry 
 its message to the brain, and that, after it has 
 performed its errand, other nerve-centres must 
 grasp the meaning of the words heard and 
 prompt the right impulse to action or speech. 
 Some persons require a longer time than others 
 for these mental operations. Public speakers 
 sometimes fail to observe this with cultivated 
 audiences. Perfectly familiar with the thought 
 of their discourse or recitation, they forget that 
 it is new to others. They speak rapidly in dis- 
 regard of the efforts of their listeners to hear 
 the words and telegraph to various parts of the 
 mental machinery for light on the meaning ; and 
 afterward the speaker wonders why some charm- 
 ing poem or patriotic effusion has fallen flat. 
 Railroad officials recognize the fact that greater 
 speed may be attained in conveying trains over 
 
76 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 the threads of steel encircling the country, but 
 that the limit of human nerve to endure the 
 strain of guiding the iron steed has already been 
 nearly if not quite reached. The locomotive 
 may go more swiftly than the engineer's eye 
 can read the signal or his ear perceive the sound 
 of danger. 
 
 It is a curious fact that only a small minority 
 of people hear well. The large majority possess 
 a peculiarity that is oftentimes extremely slight. 
 It is not unusual for one aural organ to be in 
 better condition than the other ; in this case, the 
 difficulty with the poor ear is purely a functional 
 disability. There are many persons who have a 
 defective musical faculty ; a few are absolutely 
 unable to distinguish one tune from another, or 
 take refuge in the thought that they do know 
 ' ' Yankee Doodle ' ' if nothing else. Some who 
 readily perceive the sound of the human voice 
 cannot hear certain high notes. A curious in- 
 stance is that of a leading journalist in the West 
 who was twenty-five years old before he knew 
 that the singing of birds was not a poetic myth. 
 He never was able to hear it, and presumed 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 77 
 
 that others could not do so but that they liked 
 to keep up the delusion with regard to canaries 
 and robins, though willing to say the death-song 
 of the swan might be looked upon as a pleasing 
 fiction. One of my pupils, who had great dif- 
 ficulty in hearing what was spoken within two 
 inches of his ear, always enjoyed the birds' 
 morning song. Many can hear a whistle and 
 nothing else. 
 
 If the slowness in receiving sound be of 
 marked degree, it interferes with the orderly 
 growth of the speech-faculty. I have already 
 described extreme cases in Chapter YI. , but at 
 present I refer to those individuals who know 
 there is such a thing as sound and who wish 
 to speak but find difficulty in so doing. In some 
 cases there is a slowness in receiving sounds and 
 in others, in the directing of the vocal organs. 
 The various defects in utterance will be con- 
 sidered in the following chapters ; the subject of 
 our attention now is backwardness in speech due 
 to slowness in receiving sounds. I have found 
 interesting phases of this peculiarity among my 
 pupils. The type may be represented by the 
 
78 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 case of a boy aged six. He had attended a kin- 
 dergarten for two years, but had learned scarcely 
 anything. He did not attempt to join in a song. 
 He seldom spoke and wha.t he did say was un- 
 intelligible except "I no know ' ' in answer to 
 any question. He never told of anything he 
 had seen. " He has no memory,' 5 his mother 
 said. Beyond the amount necessary to make 
 him obedient, he had, indeed, no memory for 
 linguistic sounds, and was, therefore, at a mental 
 standstill. He was taught to speak by showing 
 him the movements of the vocal organs, and af- 
 terward he learned to hear sounds. He looked 
 like another child. His mind was awakened ; 
 he proved to have an excellent memory, and in 
 six months he could read remarkably well. This 
 was a most pronounced case, but there have 
 been others just as serious, or nearly so, and it 
 is cited to show how much can be overcome. 
 Special instruction such as this boy received 
 outlines certain educative means by which the 
 dull are stimulated. Teachers recognize more 
 and more that their work is something different 
 from merely hearing recitations. The mental 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 79 
 
 awakening of their pupils is an important trust, 
 and one of the chief ways of securing it is skil- 
 fully to direct the sense of hearing to perform 
 its duties. At the present time sight is receiving 
 an undue measure of regard ; every effort is 
 being made to teach children to observe. If, 
 however, they are backward in speech, it is 
 necessary to divert some of this tendency to use 
 the eyes; otherwise, all the mental energy is 
 spent at the expense of the hearing faculty. 
 Children who do not learn to speak well at the 
 normal age require careful attention in this re- 
 gard. They will either manifest a decided pref- 
 erence for seeing, or else grow indifferent and 
 become dull and stupid pupils. If one has had 
 his development of speech retarded, he is soon 
 in the unfortunate position of having ideas 
 beyond his verbal expression ; his vocabulary 
 increases and soon imposes upon his vocal organs 
 the most impossible feats. This is a critical con- 
 dition and may, if not properly cared for, lay 
 the foundation for stammering. 
 
 Special education of the hearing opens an im- 
 portant field for teachers of all classes of chil- 
 
80 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 dren. Certain requirements must be possessed 
 by the one who undertakes this work. The 
 most important is a scientifically correct knowl- 
 edge of phonetics, by which we mean an accu- 
 rate knowledge of the exact positions and ac- 
 tions of the vocal organs in speech. Without 
 this, it is impossible for the teacher to judge 
 from the sounds made by the pupil of the pre- 
 cise condition of the various muscles used ; and 
 to be unable to do this, prevents him from 
 knowing whether the difficulty is a defect in the 
 receiving of sounds or a failure to properly 
 direct the vocal organs. If primary teachers 
 were qualified thus to analyze their pupils' con- 
 dition, they could accomplish results that would 
 greatly diminish the number of dull scholars in 
 the higher classes. A prompt connection be- 
 tween the ear and the organs of articulation 
 betokens an activity which brightens the 
 entire mind ; and in the securing of this, there 
 may also be developed a fine appreciation for 
 correct sounds in a child previously under the 
 pernicious influence of ' ' baby-talk. ' ' 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 INVENTED OR ' ' PATHOLOGICAL ' ' LANGUAGE. 
 
 /OCCASIONALLY we hear of a child who 
 ^-^^ has apparently invented a language of 
 his own. A London medical journal has given 
 to this peculiar speech the name of ' ' pathological 
 language." It is unintelligible except to the 
 child that originates it, and offers little or no 
 resemblance to the language he has heard 
 spoken. A number of such children have been 
 under my care ; all of them acquired distinct- 
 ness of speech in a comparatively short time. 
 They had been unable to profit by attendance at 
 school while suffering from this peculiar con- 
 dition, but after attaining fluency of utterance 
 their progress was rapid. Bearing in mind the 
 fact already emphasized, that there can be no 
 orderly progress in mental development without 
 
 language, it is easy to understand how these 
 
 (81) 
 
88 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 children were handicapped. A language un- 
 intelligible to others necessarily failed to give 
 expression to their ideas. Utterly without a 
 medium of communication with those about 
 them, except in the simple signs to which they 
 resorted, they were unhappy indeed. Some of 
 these children appeared to have feeble, flabby 
 tongues, and others a lingual member too large 
 for their mouths. Many of them were strong 
 and energetic in body ; a few were delicate, and 
 slower in learning to speak well. 
 
 It is not uncommon for a child imperfectly to 
 pronounce certain sounds of the language ; many 
 a little one fails on s and says "'orry" or 
 " thorry " for "sorry." A peculiarity not so 
 frequent is the habitual use of some one portion 
 of the vocal organs in place of another, after the 
 individual is far beyond babyhood. A case in 
 point was that of a boy of twelve, who was un- 
 able to use in speech that part of the tongue be- 
 tween the top and point which is employed in 
 forming s and s, and who had an over-activity 
 of the back of the organ. In consequence, he 
 made k or g and occasionally h in place of the 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 83 
 
 above-mentioned letters. When he spoke sen- 
 tences containing few hissing sounds, it was quite 
 easy to understand him. " I go to study sounds ' ' 
 became " I go to hudy hounk. " " Sister ' ■ was 
 pronounced ' ' higter. ? ' It was plain that he 
 meant "It is a pleasant day," when he said, 
 u It ig a pleagant day ; " it was far more diffi- 
 cult to understand him, however, when the 
 simple question "Is Augustus sick?" was 
 changed to ' ' Ig Auhugtug hick ? ' ' He was a 
 bright, sensible boy, keenly alive to the amuse- 
 ment his peculiar utterance afforded his play- 
 mates. A physician had said that in his opinion 
 the difficulty was due to an unusually high arch 
 of the hard-palate and, therefore, without remedy 
 unless a plate were inserted. Unfortunately, 
 such a decision has been made in other instances ; 
 but a false roof in the mouth does not improve 
 such speech. Control of the tongue is needed. 
 In this case, as with others, a correct pronun- 
 ciation was attained by special instruction. 
 
 A curious phase was presented by a girl of 
 thirteen, who had attempted to speak German 
 as well as English, both being spoken in the 
 
84 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 family. She suffered from marked unwieldiness 
 of tongue, and these efforts proving futile, she 
 developed a language possessing many sounds 
 of English and German, which was utterly un- 
 intelligible to others. 
 
 Believing that the instances of invented or 
 ' ' pathological ' ' language, so-called, are of the 
 nature of those just mentioned, though differing 
 in degree, I have critically analyzed their ele- 
 ments, and taken notes in the symbols of Bell's 
 system of scientific phonetics. These symbols 
 are based on the positions of the vocal organs 
 assumed in articulating, and are known as Visible 
 Speech or Universal Alphabetics. Two of the 
 most interesting cases were brothers, eight and 
 six and a half years old. They were bright 
 boys, energetic in manner, manifesting no pecul- 
 iarity other than that of defective articulation. 
 Often the parents and nurse failed to under- 
 stand their simplest wants, and never were able 
 to make out their descriptions of any sight or 
 occurrence. The elder boy developed a tend- 
 ency to gesticulate ; the younger was becoming 
 morbidly sensitive. They understood each other 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 85 
 
 at all times, having a language of their own 
 equal to all their demands. When talking to- 
 gether, their speech was rapid, but when re- 
 quested they would repeat a word or a sentence 
 for me slowly a number of times, always giving 
 it in exactly the same way no matter how fre- 
 quently it was called for. Their education was 
 at a standstill. Efforts had been made to instruct 
 the older boy ; the result was utterly discoura- 
 ging. The children belonged to a cultivated 
 family, who highly appreciated the importance 
 of a liberal education ; jet by reason of their 
 peculiarity of speech, they were absolutely out 
 of reach of any school benefits. I quote from 
 my note-book. Two pronunciations of the same 
 word are given in some instances, which indicate 
 a difference of articulative action in these 
 brothers, but still the sounds are so nearly alike 
 that the resemblance may be easily traced : 
 
 Wee wah Ah-wah'-wee — Lexington Avenue. 
 
 Papa Jcah koo kd — Papa brought him some. 
 
 Kee'-ya mah moo-lxo! -ya opu gaya f — See 
 my moustache over there ? 
 
86 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 # 
 
 E ' waw Md'-e-waw Ah-wah-wee — We walked 
 
 on Madison Avenue. 
 
 Ah dee dah Ah-wd-ya dee dah da'-ya — I am 
 going to tell Alice to sit down there. 
 
 Mamma hah da' -leu — Mamma lias a headache. 
 
 Kali goo, led leee goo — That is good, very good. 
 
 Dah dee nah wu — That is a nice one. 
 
 Ah %oee gaiv koo — I had gone to school. 
 
 Kah kee koo kee'-ya — Someone is in there. 
 
 Kd-hoo bit mil — Thank you very much. 
 
 Ah haw koo pd'-ya — I like to play; 
 
 Wu wee wu-daw' — We saw out of the window. 
 
 Mamma de da mu dee moo — Mamma taught 
 that to me this morning. 
 
 E wah dah wah-gu — He lay down on the sofa. 
 
 E wah Way a — We walk with Alice. 
 
 Koo kaw kee-kee — New York City. 
 
 Ah dah bepu — I have breakfast. 
 
 Pajpa kaw ah — Papa taught me. 
 
 Pa goo bah — Pretty good boy. 
 
 Pee jpa-ya — Piece of bread. 
 
 Koo-e ka-ya — New Year's cake. 
 
 Paw Bah — Post Office. 
 
 Bee-ba — Speak plain. 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 8? 
 
 Goo pa koo — Eew pair of shoes. 
 
 Da bee goo — That is good. 
 
 Opu ga'-ya — Over there. 
 
 Ah wall — Three yards. 
 
 Bu hah — Build houses. 
 
 Ma-bee — Mantelpiece. 
 
 Doo 7)100 ) 
 
 1- \ — Good morning. 
 
 Koo-moo -ya ) 
 
 Koo-d-ngoo ) 
 
 t, w f — Good afternoon, 
 
 JJoo-a-noo ) 
 
 Dd-wd'-we — January. 
 
 We-wee — February. 
 
 Doo-wd'-ya 
 
 Koo-wa -ya 
 
 Da' -da ) 
 
 Ka'-M }- Sunda y- 
 
 Maw' da ) 
 
 Maw'-M |- Monda y- 
 
 Koo-ha — Tuesday. . 
 
 Wu-dd ) 
 
 -tttv 7 v r — Wednesday. 
 Wu-Jea ) J 
 
 Goo-Ted — Thursday. 
 
 Baw'-kd — Friday. 
 
 Kd-ee-La — Saturday. 
 
 | _J U 1 7 . 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 -Sugar. 
 
 Wah — One. 
 Koo — Two. 
 Kyee — Three. 
 Paw — Four. 
 Pah — Five. 
 Eee'-ya — Six. 
 Ed-kee' '-ya — Seven. 
 
 Wd-ya — Eight. 
 
 Wd mah — Last month. 
 
 Wd-ngah — Last night. 
 Doo-dd '-ya 
 Eoo-dd ' -ya 
 Bu-wd! -ya — Banana. 
 Aw-lcd'-ya — Orange. 
 Md-ya-wu — Macaroons. 
 
 Waw-mee' -ya — Oatmeal. 
 Jf£_Meat. 
 Bepu — Breakfast. 
 Baw — Butter. 
 Pu-kd-hu — Potato. 
 
 Wd-ya — Lamp. 
 
 Waw-pah — Umbrella. 
 
 E 
 
 Eh 
 
 — Nine. 
 
 Nah 
 Ngah 
 Ed— Ten. 
 
 Wd-kee-kah — Eleven. 
 Ea'-hee — Twenty. 
 Eu-lcee — Thirty. 
 Aw-daw' 
 Aw-gaw' 
 
 -Why. 
 
 
 
 -Yes. 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 89 
 
 Gah-haw — Forgot. 
 
 Wah haw pah — 145. 
 
 Analysis reveals the fact that the sounds used 
 in the foregoing list are formed, almost without 
 exception, by the lips and the back of the 
 tongue. The exceptions are the vowels e long 
 and a short, and the consonants d, n and y. E 
 requires the top of the tongue, which is in close 
 relation to the back, to be raised very nearly to 
 the hard-palate or roof of the mouth. This 
 position accompanied by friction of the voice, 
 instead of a steady vowel-quality, gives y as in 
 the word yes. The latter was an exceedingly 
 frequent sound in these children's language. 
 Short a is a front vowel, but requires a low 
 position of the tongue. D and n were not formed 
 correctly, by raising the front edge of the tongue 
 to the upper gum, but by a forward pressure of 
 the entire organ, as it lay in the bed of the jaw, 
 against the lower front teeth. The absence of 
 the sounds of s, 2, sh, I, r, and others common 
 in English will be noticed. It was impossible 
 for either child, when asked, to lift the point of 
 the tongue to the upper gum or to push the 
 
90 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 organ forward far enough to touch the lips ; yet 
 both were able to manage it properly for the 
 purposes of mastication. 
 
 These children showed no defect in the per- 
 ceptive functions of the brain. The) could locate 
 sounds with ease, enjoyed being read to and 
 looked forward to the story-telling hour. They 
 frequently accompanied their father in walks 
 and drives, showing an interest in their sur- 
 roundings; but inability to express themselves 
 was becoming a saddening circumstance in their 
 lives. Another proof of the correctness of their 
 powers of hearing and their intention to imitate 
 and not to invent was manifested in their con- 
 sciousness that what they said w T as not right. 
 As an example, I asked them once how many 
 books were on the table, they answered unhesi- 
 tatingly, "Kee-ya." " No, " I said, " not kee- 
 ya; there are six." They assented quickly, 
 repeating ' ' kee-ya ' ' with emphasis. I said 
 " kee-ya " in reply, but they told me that was 
 not right. They knew I had pronounced the 
 word in their way, but showed most unmistak- 
 ably that they realized how widely different it 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 91 
 
 was from what they had attempted to say. They 
 were so distressed that it was necessary to turn 
 the subject quickly. 
 
 It seemed clear that the condition of these 
 boys was the result of serious disturbance in the 
 speech-impulse, due, perhaps, to a congenital 
 defect ; and that the brain had failed to bring 
 under control certain portions of the organs of 
 speech. They were taught to use the disabled 
 parts and gradually obtained complete mastery 
 of the various actions necessary for correct artic- 
 ulation. As an interesting indication of the 
 stage of transition through which they passed, I 
 add a list of words as pronounced by them in 
 rapid conversation with each other, after they 
 were able, by taking extreme care, to speak 
 comparatively well. 
 
 Kd he na cat — That is the name of the cat. 
 
 Awbaw Jcee mee wah — About the middle of 
 the week. 
 
 Wah aw bd-haw — Write on the blackboard. 
 Wah gd gam-law-ade — One glass of lemonade. 
 
 Mamma led me-lcd f -ya — Mamma made a mis- 
 take. 
 
92 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 Three pe '-ya he ga'ya — Three pieces are there. 
 
 Ka he he — That is a check. 
 
 Dee too pa mo — This tooth pained most. 
 
 Ka hee koo hah hee'-ya-ha — If that is too 
 hard bring it back. 
 
 Letter day my collar gu-lee — Yesterday my 
 collar was dirty. 
 
 Ka he tee (t) ; where, ka he w — That is t ; in 
 where there is a w. 
 
 Ine hu a-wiminee — I never studied arithmetic. 
 
 Bee ha pa — Head that page. 
 
 Noo Kaw Tick- Tee-lee — New York City. 
 
 Wd-ku pd-gu — Asphalt pavement. 
 
 Waw Pain — White Plains. 
 
 Maw Bu — Mount Yernon. 
 
 Wee hee — Elevated. 
 
 Kit koo — Little cool. 
 
 Gdm-d! -ya — Gentleman. 
 
 Tack-tee-haw — Twenty-five. 
 
 Waw-ee-eng — One hundred. 
 
 De- tu — D en ti st . 
 
 Dah-ee — Stockings. 
 
 Be tah ) 
 
 Be-kah - B,anket 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 93 
 
 ■Tah! tah — Collar. 
 
 Gaw-he — Strawberries. 
 
 Ka-sing — Same thing. 
 
 Gd-gaw — Santa Clans. 
 
 Kd-aw — Drive the horse. 
 
 Ken — Then. 
 
 It will be noticed that grammatical errors 
 were committed. The boys rapidly acquired 
 the art of arranging words correctly in sentences ; 
 and in a few months were able to take their 
 rightful place in school. From extreme unin- 
 telligibility they grew into a surprisingly correct 
 and fluent utterance. In common with other 
 persons possessing a similar peculiarity, they 
 lost all recollection of their former language. 
 In it there were no personal pronouns, no pos- 
 sessive case, and only one conjunction, namely, 
 "ku" for "and." 
 
 -si#Is-~ 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 LISPING AND CARELESS SPEECH IN GENERAL. 
 
 A LISP is not pleasing in an adult, however 
 charming it may be in the child just 
 beginning to talk. Many an agreeable impres- 
 sion is dispelled when a stranger opens his lips 
 and exposes an infantile pronunciation. Clear, 
 crisp articulation is in keeping with the dignity 
 of business, professional, and social life. It is 
 to be expected that childish things have been 
 put away, even if there be lacking the finish and 
 ease in which the cultivated ear delights. Lisp- 
 ing is caused by wrong management of the 
 tongue, and is a sure indication of pronounced 
 forward action of the organ. The individual 
 who lisps places his lingual member in positions 
 that change the pitch of all breath-consonants, 
 and, consequently, injure the vocal quality of 
 
 the others and mar the beauty of the vowels. 
 
 (94) 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 95 
 
 Granting that in some instances there may have 
 been unusual helplessness of the tongue, the 
 defective utterance known as lisping is caused 
 in the main by lack of proper attention on the 
 part of parents and teachers during the pupil's 
 early years. 
 
 There is a surprising want of knowledge 
 among instructors of little children regarding 
 the principles of articulation, which might be 
 excusable among the educators in higher grades, 
 who are not supposed to give attention to ele- 
 mentary work, but which is lamentable among 
 those who have an important influence in the 
 formation of lifelong habits. With all due 
 respect # for the sanction which some prominent 
 instructors give to the sentence- method of teach- 
 ing pupils to read, I fear it will only increase 
 the slovenly speech of American children. Not 
 that I would advocate the old method of teach- 
 ing the alphabet. On the contrary, I would 
 urge that teaching to read be an exercise founded 
 on knowledge of the mechanism of speech. 
 
 Perhaps a brief analysis of the elements of 
 articulation may explain the matter. Voice, as 
 
96 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 we already know, is the vocalized emission of 
 breath. Any single, open position of the mouth 
 will mold the voice into some vowel-sound, and 
 can be prolonged to the limit of the breath, 
 though such an exercise should be indulged in 
 with caution. Consonants are formed by the 
 lips or by some portion of the tongue, which 
 more or less obstructs the current of vocalized 
 or un vocalized breath. Therefore, within the 
 cavity of the mouth there must be many delicate 
 movements and agile changes of positions during 
 the act of speaking. Let us analyze a word, 
 taking ' ' black ' : as an example. The first 
 sound, 5, requires a gentle closing of the lips, 
 which is maintained while the breath is being 
 vocalized in the glottis. As the mouth opens, 
 the tip of the tongue must be raised to the upper 
 gum in such a manner as to allow free egress of 
 the voice on both sides of the organ, for the I. 
 A free, flattened condition of the front half of 
 the unruly member must be obtained for the 
 vowel a ; and the back of the tongue must be 
 raised against the soft-palate and lowered with 
 an expulsion of breath, to complete the word. 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 97 
 
 Are we to be conscious of all these intricate 
 operations when talking ? Certainly not. Yet 
 a knowledge of their movements should be 
 familiar to those who direct the early articulative 
 efforts of the child ; they could then skilfully 
 lead him through difficulties, instead of allowing 
 him to struggle without assistance. "We are 
 carefully taught how to use our feet in the won- 
 derful process of alternate falling and balancing 
 which is termed walking. Hours are set apart 
 for particular instruction in the art of dancing. 
 Gymnastic exercises are deemed worthy of the 
 wise direction of the medical mind. There are 
 innumerable accomplishments and arts which, in 
 the judgment of parents, demand a special in- 
 structor. "Why should the divine gift of speech 
 be left to unguided instinct ? The young child 
 is at the mercy of his models in articulation. 
 Should they be defective through carelessness or 
 from a serious impediment, his ear becomes 
 accustomed to wrong standards; later, he will 
 have much to unlearn. Should he be favorably 
 situated in this respect and hear correct pronun- 
 ciation almost constantly, his effort will be to 
 
98 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 copy his ideal. It is generally conceded that 
 the early surroundings of children influence the 
 grammatical construction of their sentences, and 
 that the best schools cannot impart a spontane- 
 ous use of good language, such as may be un- 
 consciously assimilated from example in the 
 home. To some extent, the same principle 
 holds good with the voice and articulation ; but 
 the primary teacher bears a heavy responsibility. 
 Foreigners severely and justly criticise the 
 American voice. They say it is loud, sharp, 
 frequently nasal, and usually uncultivated. 
 There is musical appreciation enough in our 
 nation to prevent these peculiarities, and it lies 
 with the teachers of the rising generation to 
 work a tremendous change in this respect. They 
 certainly can do it. It may be very well to ex- 
 cuse ourselves with vague generalities about our 
 national nervousness and constant stir and push 
 in life. Such being our state of existence, the 
 children should be taught to conserve their force. 
 They should not extravagantly expend their 
 vitality in wrong efforts, by which they become 
 breathless and their vocal bands are strained. 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 99 
 
 Correct articulation is a means of mental 
 development, and exercises to insure it have a 
 beneficial effect upon all the nerves, making 
 them more expressive agents of the mind. Cor- 
 rect articulation also leads directly to correct use 
 of language, whereby are revealed culture and 
 refinement. 
 
 The efforts of the teacher in the schoolroom 
 can remove the peculiarities of slovenly speech 
 and raise a pupil's standard of what is proper ; 
 but it requires more thorough knowledge than 
 could be generally obtained to remedy serious 
 defects in utterance. Stuttering and stammering 
 demand the attention of the specialist, and 
 doubtless the same is true in all instances of 
 marked inability to use some one or more por- 
 tions of the articulating organs. Yet even the 
 teacher of primary grades, after experience with 
 children, could render great assistance to persons 
 whose utterance and handwriting have been 
 changed by serious illnesses affecting the brain. 
 Careful speech-training has restored these func- 
 tions entirely. Defects in articulation that are 
 due to a paralytic condition may be somewhat 
 
100 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 helped but are not included in the list of cura- 
 ble cases, except in young children. 
 
 English has been called a hissing language. 
 However much the fastidious foreigner may 
 criticise this peculiarity, the native ear objects 
 to a flattening of the sound of s. Let it be clear. 
 A lisping articulation would utterly fail to give 
 the desired effect of insects' buzzing in H. H. 's 
 i l Sonnet to August : ' ' 
 
 "Silence again. The glorious symphony 
 
 Hath need of pause and interval of peace. 
 
 Some subtle signal bids all sweet sounds cease, 
 
 Save hum of insects' aimless industry. 
 
 Pathetic summer seeks by blazonry 
 
 Of color to conceal her swift decrease. 
 
 Weak subterfuge ! Each mocking day doth fleece 
 
 A blossom, and lay bare her poverty. 
 
 Poor middle-aged summer ! " 
 
 -*J#H- 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 STUTTERING AND STAMMERING. 
 
 OPASMODIC conditions distinguish the de- 
 ^"^ fects of speech known as stuttering, stam- 
 mering, and convulsive hesitation. This fact 
 alone denotes a deranged nerve-function without 
 the existence of muscular or even nerve-lesions. 
 The individual may talk smoothly for a con- 
 siderable time and suddenly be seized with a 
 paroxysm severe enough to distress the beholder, 
 or with an utter inability to speak, or with a rapid 
 repetition of the initial sound of a word. The 
 difficulty lies in a disturbance in the regulation 
 of the speech-impulse. 
 
 It is not unusual for a child to show a tendency 
 to stutter in his comparatively early efforts to 
 talk, but seldom in his very first attempts. 
 There seems to be a time when the child's ideas 
 flow faster than his vocal organs can act, and he 
 
 (101) 
 
102 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 splutters through the story he wishes to tell. 
 Then is the critical moment. He should \>e 
 stopped with great gentleness to avoid startling 
 him, and told to go over the words again. ~No 
 allusion should be made to his impediment ; on 
 the contrary, he should simply be told that he 
 was not understood and that attention will be 
 paid to him if he goes through the sentence 
 again. Under this quieting influence, he will 
 speak smoothly. He will stop to consider what 
 he wanted to say, decide upon the words, and 
 then give a prompt but not hurried impulse to 
 his articulating organs. Never under any cir- 
 cumstances let him hear remarks about his de- 
 fective utterance. He should not have that 
 held up to his alert, imitative faculties. Instead 
 of that he needs, more than other children, a con- 
 stant repetition of correct forms of expression. 
 
 Do not tire of repeating sentences to him. 
 Remember that by that exercise alone you are 
 keeping fresh in his memory the words he should 
 use ; the of tener he hears them the easier it will 
 be for him to repeat them. A direct connection 
 is thus established between his ear and his or- 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 103 
 
 gans of articulation ; he will not have to stam- 
 mer mentally in a blind seeking for his words. 
 It is not well to give him too full a vocabulary ; 
 he might lose time in selecting from it. Hence, 
 he should be taught to command a few expres- 
 sions with precision and accuracy. 
 
 Unfortunately, this course is seldom pursued 
 in instances of stammering among young chil- 
 dren. Too often they are harshly reprimanded, 
 and more frequent reference is made to their 
 mistakes than to their successful speech. It is 
 not unusual for parents to say that they know 
 their children are not in the least sensitiye about 
 their defect because it has been commonly dis- 
 cussed in the family circle ; and that, if they 
 were only willing to make an effort, they could 
 speak as smoothly as anyone. 
 
 The speech-impulse being disturbed, the vari- 
 ous parts of the vocal apparatus are put under 
 an uneven strain. The tongue becomes clumsy ; 
 or there is difficulty in managing the contraction 
 and relaxation of the vocal bands ; or, through 
 wrong action of the intercostal and other mus- 
 cles, defective circulation and respiration com- 
 

 104 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 plicate matters. All of these peculiarities re- 
 quire careful attention from the specialist. No 
 pains should be spared in securing relief from 
 these conditions for every child. It will not 
 suffice to wait for him to cure himself. Some 
 resolute souls may have conquered this impedi- 
 ment, but they are few in number compared to 
 the many who continue to suifer in various 
 ways from this great disadvantage. 
 
 Some parents severely but unconsciously hurt 
 their children's feelings by telling them that they 
 must take their pleasure in expression by writ- 
 ing instead of by speech ; as if that medium of 
 communication alone could satisfy ! The moral 
 effect of the stammering habit is the develop- 
 ment of secretiveness ; and this element of char- 
 acter should be dealt with gently while the 
 distressing impediment continues. 
 
 It will be seen that stuttering and stammering 
 are difficulties in expression, and not in the per- 
 ceptive functions; yet their variable quality 
 and intermittent character show a wide differ- 
 ence between them and the peculiarity described 
 as invented language. However, the habit of 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 105 
 
 stammering may develop in a child whose speech 
 has been retarded by the latter phase of defective 
 utterance or by a slowness in receiving sounds, 
 because of the fact that his ideas are beyond the 
 ability of his articulating organs. A little care 
 will prevent disastrous results. In some cases, 
 the difficulty in regulating speech has been in- 
 creased by a feeble condition of body due to 
 illness or a weak constitution. In consequence, 
 there may exist flabbiness of tongue, unwieldi- 
 ness of the cheek- muscles, a relaxed state of 
 the soft- palate or a stiff action of the lips. 
 These complications demand extra care on the 
 part of the specialist. It should be remembered 
 that the brain is the controlling agent, and that, 
 therefore, all exercises must be gone through by 
 the pupil while in full sympathy and effort, and 
 that they should be based on the method by 
 which the normal child passes necessarily through 
 the stages of speech-development. The weakest 
 point in the articulating organs should next 
 receive attention. It is absolutely necessary 
 that the pupil be taught to exert his will-power 
 in directing the vocal organs. 
 
106 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 While enfeebled by illness, a child has some- 
 times been subjected to a great fright, a severe 
 fall, or to some form of ill-treatment, and a 
 stutter or stammer will be one of the effects. 
 Children who possess an unusual amount of the 
 imitative faculty have been known to contract 
 an impediment of speech, sometimes through the 
 unconscious influence of the habit in others, and 
 often after mimicking the peculiarity. 
 
 Adult stammerers may be relieved to some 
 extent, and, under favorable circumstances, 
 cured. There are certain habits manifested by 
 them besides those already mentioned. The 
 head is badly managed ; it is thrown upward 
 during the act of speaking and is unstable. Some 
 persons hold the mouth wide open at times, as 
 if unable to close it ; others keep the lower jaw 
 raised too high, leaving but a narrow aperture 
 for the voice and decidedly cramped quarters 
 for the tongue to move about in; while the 
 faces of most stammerers twitch and quiver at 
 times. Stammerers inflate only the upper part 
 of the lungs, and are thus unable to take a long 
 breath without raising their shoulders. To 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 107 
 
 remedy this condition it would be well to prac- 
 tice a simple exercise ; and this is said advisedly, 
 because much harm may follow the injudicious 
 use of certain breathing-exercises. The safe 
 exercise is done while the pupil is standing erect, 
 the arms being slowly raised until the backs of 
 the hands touch over the head, while the mouth 
 is closed and the breath inhaled through the 
 nose; then the arms are slowly dropped to the 
 sides during a long exhalation. As the attention 
 is fixed upon the arms which are well raised, the 
 lungs have an opportunity for unrestricted play. 
 This exercise might be practiced to advantage 
 perhaps twenty times night and morning. The 
 habit of correct breathing will be slowly acquired 
 by this means, and it will be normal because 
 no attempt has been made forcibly to innate 
 the lungs. 
 
 At all times when a difficulty is experienced 
 in talking, the lips should be lightly closed. 
 Then, before opening them to speak, a natural 
 inhalation, not a deep one, will be taken, and 
 will greatly relieve the speaker. A desirable 
 accomplishment is the careful " spinning out ' 5 
 
108 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 of the breath. Too often there is an extrava- 
 gant waste -of it while the cords are slowly ad- 
 justed for the formation of voice. Yocalization 
 should take place immediately after the mouth 
 is opened. 
 
 To the adult, knowledge of the principles of 
 correct speech is of great value. He can then 
 analyze the effects upon the various parts of his 
 vocal apparatus which have been brought about 
 by unguided efforts to struggle with his diffi- 
 culty. By degrees, the action of his lips, the 
 point, top and back of his tongue, his soft- 
 palate and cords, may be controlled through will- 
 power, assisted by an intelligent perception of 
 the duty of each part. 
 
 As a rule, the stammerer maintains a high 
 position of the larynx. This organ should rise 
 and fall without tension. It is most depressed 
 during the sounding of the vowel do, and much 
 beauty of expression is assured by its freedom 
 of action. Its depression causes a deepening of 
 the voice. Unequal strain, which is the result 
 of blind struggle, can be overcome only by 
 wisely directed exercises ; an equilibrium is thus 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 109 
 
 established, and may be maintained by care. 
 For a while, relapses must be expected. A 
 habit of years cannot be removed by the efforts 
 of a few hours. Patience and practice, how- 
 ever, are essentials that in time bring their own 
 reward. 
 
 % 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CLEFT PALATES. 
 
 IT* HE soft-palate performs a very important 
 function in the act of articulation. It is 
 a curtain-like adjustment in the back of the 
 mouth, and is connected with the hard-palate or 
 roof. There are but three elements of the 
 English language which require the current of 
 voice to be directed through the nose ; they are 
 represented by m, n, and ng. Upon the soft- 
 palate rests the duty of preventing any nasal 
 quality in the other sounds. Refinement, and 
 it is hardly too much to say intelligibility, of 
 speech are thus directly due to the activity of 
 this organ. If it is even slightly cleft, the articu- 
 lation is sadly affected. Unfortunately, that con- 
 dition is seldom confined to a small space, but is 
 frequently carried through the hard-palate, and, 
 in some instances, the jaw, and even the nostril 
 
 (110) 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. Ill 
 
 and the lip. In the latter case, the name 
 ■ ' hare-lip ' ' is used to describe the appearance. 
 The cleft, being present from birth, nnless 
 operated npon, will interfere with the normal 
 development of the entire upper portion of the 
 mouth. In short, there will be practically no 
 roof to the oral cavity, and correct speech is an 
 impossibility. Food finds its way into the nasal 
 passages from the month. The individual thus 
 strangely afflicted shuns society and is shut out 
 of all professional and most business pursuits. 
 With him, existence itself becomes of little 
 value. As will be readily understood, speech 
 in these cases is defective wholly on account of 
 the malformation. 
 
 An operation may be performed in such cases 
 during infancy or early childhood, but it is one 
 requiring exceedingly careful handling. If 
 rightly managed, the two parts are so brought 
 together that a complete roof is formed for the 
 mouth, and it grows with the child's general 
 growth. Often, however, there is a breaking 
 away of the stitches, caused sometimes by the 
 patient's crying, and a consequent irregular 
 
112 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 pulling in various portions of the palate. There 
 are instances of such an inadequate supply of 
 material that the surgeon's efforts may, indeed, 
 result in a roof for the mouth, but there exists 
 a stretched, meagre apology for a soft-palate, 
 which is completely useless for the purposes of 
 articulation. A slight cleft may be operated 
 upon to advantage even comparatively late in 
 life ; but the advice of an experienced specialist 
 should be sought at the earliest moment if an 
 infant is found to possess any abnormality of the 
 mouth. 
 
 Even if the operation should be entirely suc- 
 cessful, it will be necessary for the individual to 
 receive special instruction in articulation. A 
 complete roof to the mouth and a soft-palate of 
 the proper size will not enable him to speak 
 correctly. The voice will be as nasal as before, 
 and the enunciation no less peculiar. The 
 newly-formed curtain cannot perform its duties ; 
 seamed with a scar, it hangs limp and expres- 
 sionless. It may seem ridiculous to expect any 
 expression in a soft-palate; but, in truth, few 
 people know how it ought to look, The ex- 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 113 
 
 perienced eye can detect, upon close examina- 
 tion, the habits even of this organ, just as it 
 can tell by the shape of a mouth whether or not 
 its owner speaks well. The normal soft-palate 
 is in constant action during speech ; its edges 
 must be dropped whenever an m, n or ng is to 
 be sounded, and quickly raised to turn the 
 vocal current from the opening to the nasal pas- 
 sages in all other sounds of our language. The 
 palate secured by an operation must be trained 
 to the performance of this duty. Judicious ex- 
 ercises strengthen it ; more flexibility of move- 
 ment is obtained, and, by degrees, it becomes 
 shapely and agile. 
 
 In instances of this kind, much care must be 
 given to the tongue. Before the operation the 
 back of that organ was never correctly employed 
 in articulation, for the very good reason that 
 there was nothing present for it to touch, no 
 
 OX 7 
 
 matter how high it may have been raised. After 
 a curtain has been formed, the lingual member 
 must be exercised in efforts to meet it. 
 
 When a soft- palate is formed by surgical aid^ 
 special knowledge is requisite for training it to 
 
114 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 the successful performance of its functions ; that 
 knowledge, however, can accomplish the desired 
 results with surprising promptness. In a com- 
 paratively short time the parents may forget 
 their child's former affliction. 
 
 Supposing a cleft to be very serious, or that 
 it has been neglected through ignorance of the 
 importance of an early operation, excellent re- 
 sults may be obtained by means of an artificial 
 roof to the mouth. A dentist can make such 
 an appliance almost as easily as a set of false 
 teeth. However, he should exercise great care 
 in shaping it. As far as possible the grade or 
 curve of the normal palate should be reproduced, 
 in order that the voice may be properly guided 
 out of the mouth. The back portion should be 
 very thick, and, consequently, hollow, to pre- 
 vent undue heaviness. The thickness is neces- 
 sary to keep the breath from too freely entering 
 the nasal passages. It will be remembered that 
 the artificial appliance cannot act as the natural 
 palate does; hence, to prevent nasality, there 
 must be bulk enough to the former to serve as 
 an obstruction in the passage to the nose, and 
 
DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 115 
 
 at the same time, an extra effort must be ex- 
 erted by the muscles of the pharynx to divert 
 the current of vocalized or unvocalized breath, 
 and throw it forward into the cavity of the 
 mouth. The result of this achievement is a 
 deepening of the tone, which is a most delight- 
 ful contrast tathe previous twang. Of course, 
 the aid of a specialist is needed in these cases, 
 and such aid enables the pupil to speak with 
 correctness and ease, and to feel that his former 
 condition need not be known. 
 
 There may be considerable nasality in a voice, 
 even if the palate is not cleft. Sometimes a 
 flabby condition exists and consequent inade- 
 quate action of the organ, which is manifest in 
 the speech. That state* can be overcome with 
 ease. Gymnastics for the soft-palate may be 
 somewhat unknown, but they are certainly 
 deserving of respectful attention. The nasal 
 twang, in certain cases, is the effect of in- 
 juries received in childhood. A broken nose 
 may apparently leave no more serious result 
 than a somewhat disfigured member. Such is 
 the formation of this important feature, how- 
 
116 DEFECTIVE SPEECH AND DEAFNESS. 
 
 ever, that the blow may interfere with its normal 
 development, and produce an unevenness of 
 growth and consequent crookedness in the nasal 
 passages. A deviated septum and some other 
 conditions due to such an injury may be oper- 
 ated upon to advantage. Hypertrophied turbi- 
 nates, diseased tonsils and adenoid growths are 
 other causes affecting both voice and articulation, 
 and may be prevented and sometimes removed 
 by proper hygienic measures. 
 
 It is well to remember that, just as good speech 
 requires a complete absence of nasal quality in 
 all the sounds of our language except three, it 
 also demands a healthful condition of the air- 
 chambers and other resonators of the voice, 
 which occupy about one- third of the space 
 covered by the face. 
 
 #