Stamering And Cognate Defects Of Speech Vol - Ii

j MODES OF ENUNCIATION, ETC 183

j a universal and unfailing remedy for stammering.

; Gesture, per &, however, has nothing to con-

demn it.
Concerning the various automatisms — fumbling

\ buttons, jingling watch-chains, and so on •— it is in-

teresting to note that the average teacher of stam-
merers endeavors to suppress them rather than foster

;' them:

i "If the pupil has a tendency to rock his foot or twiddle his

fingers, I try to arouse his of manhood and self-mastery

;' to the cessation of such actions."

The cultivation of automatisms is certainly futile.
i The arguments are made for them as for ges-

ture, and (assuming the arguments to be conceded)
gesture is unquestionably to be preferred. But while
it is futile to foster automatisms, it does not neces-
; sarily follow that there is justification for their de-

t liberate repression. Automatisms in mature persons

; are usually indicative of a nervous condition, but

this condition is not removed by enlisting brute-will
to 'inhibit symptomatic reactions.

•| We shall consider now an expedient of some his-

"" torical interest* This is the -so-called'i Leigh method,"

which was a canard nearly a century ago. The method

consists in keeping the point of the tongue in contact

! with, or near, the palate during speech.

The exact origin of the method is a little obscure. —