chances for being in a normal physical condition
are good.

On the other hand, the boy of studious disposition, who is somewhat of
a bookworm, keeps close to the house and does not play with other
children of his age, will probably find time for much introspection,
and on this account, as well as on account of the lack of fresh air and
exercise, will probably be in a physical condition that of itself
demands careful attention.

It has been found in examinations of stammerers and stutterers,
however, that they are usually of below normal chest expansion and that
the health, while not particularly bad, is subject to a great
improvement as a result of the proper treatment for stammering.

Charles Kingsley, the noted English divine and writer, and himself a
stammerer many years ago, has the following to say regarding the effect
of stammering on the body: "Continual depression of spirit wears out
body as well as mind. The lungs never act rightly, never oxygenate the
blood sufficiently. The vital energy continually directed to the organs
of speech and there used up in the miserable spasm of mis-articulation
cannot feed the rest of the body; and the man too often becomes thin,
pale, flaccid, with contracted chest, loose ribs and bad digestion. I
have seen a boy of twelve stunted, thin as a ghost and with every sign
of approaching consumption. I have seen that boy a few months after
being cured, upright, ruddy, stout, eating heartily and beginning to
grow faster than he had ever grown in his life. I never knew a single
case in which the health did not begin to improve then and there."

CHAPTER IX

DEFECTIVE SPEECH IN CHILDREN

(1) THE PRE-SPEAKING PERIOD

From the standpoint of speech development, the life of any person
between the time of birth and the age of twenty-one years, may be
divided into four periods as follows:

From Birth to Age 2--PRE-SPEAKING PERIOD.
Age 2 to Age 6--FORMATIVE-SETTING PERIOD
Age 6 to Age 11--SPEECH-SETTING PERIOD
Age 11 to Age 20--ADOLESCENT PERIOD

This chapter will deal only with the first period of the child's
speech-development, beginning with birth and taking the child up to his
second year. The speech disorders of the later periods will be taken up
in the three following chapters.

THE PRE-SPEAKING PERIOD: This is the period between the time of birth
and the age of 2, and takes the child up to the time of the first
spoken word. This does not mean, of cou