Stamering And Cognate Defects Of Speech Vol - Ii

112 SYSTEMS OF TREATING STAMMERING

succeeding vowel. He therefore suggested that the
stammerer omit the initial consonant in difficult
words and come to the vowel immediately. The
word London would thus be 'Ondon, and Birmingham,
Birmingham. Darwin further recommended that the
stammerer practise difficult words in this manner^ and
finally intercalate the consonants, giving them the
lightest possible articulation.1

This principle of Darwin's has been incorporated
in nearly every system for treating stammering that
has been introduced in the last hundred years. (In
many cases the system has been incorporated in the
principle.) In most modern stammering-schools the
pupils practise light articulation in formal exercises.
The nature of the exercises employed is obvious
enough. We give below, a few typical charts, which
are self-explanatory:

V
'ay
CHART
'ay
1
>ay
'ay

V
aay
day
day
day

V
day
day
day
day

1 Darwin also recommended preceding the word by an aspirate;
thus he probably introduced the indirect attack into the therapy of
stammering.