THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH By Alfred Adler, M.D.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPEECH By Alfred Adler, M.D.

“When a child shows difficulties in learning to speak, he occupies the center of attention. The result is, of course, that he will pay too much attention to his speech. He begins to control his expression consciously, something that children who speak normally do not do. But the conscious control of a function which should operate automatically results in its further restriction.

“Those who have much to do with young children will have noticed that almost all children show a faint tendency to stutter when they begin to speak. The development of speech is, as we know, quickened and retarded [delayed] by many factors, principally by the degree of social interest.

“Many stutterers when they become angry can scold without a trace of stuttering. Stutterers also frequently speak flawlessly when reciting, or when they are in love. These facts indicate that the decisive factor lies in the stutterer’s relationship to other people. The decisive moment is the confrontation, the tension aroused when he must establish a connection between himself and another person, or when he must achieve expression by means of speech” (389).

“In the speech of the stammerer we can see his hesitating attitude. His residue of social feeling drives him to make connection with his fellows, but his low opinion of himself, his fear of coming to the test, conflict with his social feeling, and he hesitates in his speech” (p. 279)

“When overcompensation attempts to assert itself in a cultural manner and in this effort enters into new, although difficult and often inhibited, paths, the very great expressions of the psyche arise. . . . The inferior organ is not a pathological formation, although it represents the basic condition for pathology. Under favorable conditions the impulse toward brain compensation can end in an overcompensation which shows no trace of pathology” (p. 28).

“Among orators, actors, and singers, I have also very often found signs of organ inferiority. The Bible reports about Moses that he had a heavy tongue, whereas his brother Aaron had the talent of talking. Demosthenes, the stutterer, became the greatest orator of Greece. Camille Demoulin who usually stuttered is reported by his contemporaries to have been very fluent when he made a speech” (p. 29).

* Alfred Adler (1870-1937), The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler: A Systematic Presentation in Selections from His Writings, 1956/1964/1967. Edited by Heinz Ludwig Ansbacher (1904-2006) & Rowena Ripin Ansbacher (1906-1996). Excerpts by Carroll R. Thomas, Ph.D., February 22, 2018.