Stamering And Cognate Defects Of Speech Vol - Ii

MODES OF ENUNCIATION, ETC, 207

sideration. His theory is that the young child
vocalizes and articulates only when stimulated by
feelings of ease and physical comfort (Behagen).
This physical comfort and relaxation must be culti-
vated by the stammerer, since it is the condition
naturally favorable to speech, and is moreover favor-
able to the recovery of injured speech-nerves and the
presumably injured motor speech-centre of the brain.
The following excerpts express Dr. Sandow's ideas.
They are taken from his excellent little work, "He-
chanik des Stotterns."

" In Ms cosy little bed the child feels extreme physical com-
fort. Under these conditions his attention is confined to the
world of feeling; and when the physical well-being reaches

Its highest point, the nerves and muscles ~— rendered excitable
by inheritance from preceding generations —- produce re-
sponsive movements in an unconscious and almost reflex man-
ner. The child produces a speech-sound, an abu, for instance;
and this he probably utters a second and a third time. After
a while the child turns his attention to the pleasing sound;
that is, his attention turns from the world of feeling to the
world of hearing. When the sound has fallen upon his ears,
his. attention is again attracted by the warmth of his bed to the
world of feeling. Once more the sound is produced; once more
the child listens, — and so on. If the child is reminded of the
sound at some later time, it is not necessary'for the physical
comfort to reach its former intensity. The pleasing thought
of the sound enhances the child's comfort to the necessary
point; and when this is reached, the sound is produced
spontaneously. In this manner the auditory word-centre is
brought into relation with the nerves that effect the speech-