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Stuttering and What you can do About it
Wendell Johnson
University of Minnesota Press, 1961
This is a book for parents who are worried about their children’s stuttering, for teachers, doctors, friends, and relatives of those who stutter, and for stutterers themselves. It offers help, encouragement, and guidance in dealing with the problem of stuttering, which troubles more than a million persons in the United States alone.Dr. Johnson, an outstanding authority on the subject, writes in simple language so that anyone can readily understand and follow his suggestions. What he says in this book is based on many years of laboratory research and clinical observation, and his own experience as a stutterer. He tells of his early years of struggle with the handicap and his decision to devote his life to getting at the basic causes of stuttering and finding ways to prevent or alleviate it. He describes his research experiences, likening them to a detective story centered on a search for the causes of stuttering as the culprit in the case. In this account he quotes from interviews which he conducted with parents in an effort to pinpoint the exact conditions or situations in which stuttering was believed to have started. He explains how the problem develops and how it becomes a frustrating “sad-go-round.” Finally, he tells what parents and others can do for children who are threatened with the handicap of stuttering and what adult stutterers can do to help themselves.
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Stuttering in Children and Adults
Thirty Years of Research at the University of Iowa
Wendell Johnson, Editor
University of Minnesota Press, 1955

Stuttering in Children and Adults was first published in 1955. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

One of the largest groups of handicapped people in the world today is made up of the estimated fifteen million persons who stutter. Their predicament has been one of man's most baffling problems ever since it was first recorded by the ancients, but not until the present century has the mystery of stuttering showed any signs of lifting.

The studies collected in this volume represent a substantial step toward the solving of the mystery. The University of Iowa, a pioneer in research on the causes and treatment of stuttering, has carried on its work for many years. This book presents all previously unpublished papers and dissertations (a total of forty-three) that have resulted from this research program.

Much of the work centers on the onset of stuttering in children and underlies the theory that stuttering begins with the hearer rather than the speaker. Interrelationships between personality and stuttering have been investigated, a search has been made for a possible physical basis for stuttering, conditions affecting severity of stuttering have been studied, and research on therapy has been attempted.

This is an important book for psychologists, educators, social workers, physicians, parents, and others concerned with speech disorders. For those who devote their full effort to the problems discussed—the specialists in speech pathology and therapy—the book is essential.

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