Written Report of Diagnosis Valuable: It is well to get a personal
diagnosis of the case where possible, but if this cannot be done, a
written history of the case, together with a statement of the symptoms
and present condition, should enable the expert diagnostician of speech
defects to make a thorough and reliable diagnosis of the trouble.

This diagnosis, to be of the most value to the stammerer or stutterer,
should be made up in the form of a written report, so that the
information may be in permanent form and so that the sufferer can study
his own case in all its angles.

WHAT DIAGNOSIS SHOULD SHOW: First of all, of course, the diagnosis
should identify and label your trouble. It should tell what form of
speech defect is revealed by the symptoms; it should tell the cause of
the trouble; the stage it is now in; should indicate whether or not
there is any organic defect; should give information as to the
possibilities of outgrowing the trouble; and, most important of all,
should state whether or not the disorder is in a curable stage.

When it is remembered that nearly a dozen more or less common speech
disorders can be named, almost in one breath, and that some of these
disorders may pass through four or five successive stages, it will be
seen that an expert diagnosis and report is almost a necessity to the
stammerer or stutterer who would have reliable and authoritative
information about his speech disorder.

The stammerer or stutterer who voluntarily remains in the dark, who is
satisfied with gross ignorance of his trouble, is surely not on the
road to freedom of speech.

The most able man cannot decide correctly without the facts. To decide
in the absence of information is guesswork--and guesswork is a poor
method of deciding what to do--in the case of the stammerer as in every
other case.

Therefore, it behooves the stammerer to become enlightened to as great
an extent as possible, to banish ignorance of his trouble and replace
it with facts and sound knowledge.

CHAPTER VI

THE SECRET OF CURING STUTTERING AND STAMMERING

If the reader has followed this work carefully up to this point, he is
now informed on the causes of stuttering and stammering, on their
characteristic tendencies and their peculiarities. We are now ready to
ask, "What are the correct methods for the cure of stuttering and
stammering?" and to answer that question authoritatively.

As to the successful mode of procedure i