Case VII. ‘Alfred’ aet 10 Years

This group of cases could be rounded off by one in which some light was thrown by the child on the dynamics of his stammer. This did not result in a cure of the stammer, which continued to vary according to circumstances as stammering is liable to do. It would seem to be worth while giving the material of this therapeutic consultation in spite of the fact that its value cannot be proved in terms of the disappearance of the symptomatology.

I saw this boy once only, and I saw the mother once. There was a sister of 6 years. He was brought to me on account of stammering. His father works in the office at a mental hospital. He was referred by a friend of the parents, but with the full knowledge and the goodwill of the general practitioner. The parents provide a satisfactory home. This consultation had to be fitted rigidly into the framework of one hour and ten minutes, that being exactly what I had to offer.

I went to the waiting-room and, making sure that the mother was agreeable, I took Alfred alone into my room and started to make contact with him, which was easy. He and I had a table between us and paper for drawing. As he answered some questions about his father and his father's work a stammer turned up, and I realised that I must not ask questions, because if I did he would gather himself together to give answers, and there would be a stammer. So I asked no more direct questions about environmental facts, and during the rest of the hour in which he was in my room there was practically no stammer. He agreed that we should play a game and I made a squiggle. I explained to him that in the squiggle game I make a squiggle which he turns into something, and then he makes a squiggle which I turn into something, and so the game develops. A game without rules.

1. My squiggle which Alfred made into a face. First he said it looked like a bee. As he drew the face he named each feature. I noticed while he was doing this rather deliberate work that every time he breathed out he made a