Mildred Freberg Berry

1902 - 1993

Mildred BerryMildred Freberg Berry is best known as a pioneer in language disorders in children. In 1969 she wrote a book on that topic, which was widely read at a time when there was not much literature on childhood language disabilities.

Mildred Freberg was born Pomeroy, Iowa in 1902, earned her bachelors degree at the University of Iowa in 1922, and stayed on there for her masters degree which she earned in 1925. She then went to the University of Wisconsin, where she earned a Ph.D. in 1937. Her earliest publications were in rhetoric and stuttering. It was later that she teemed up with Jon Eisenson and focused her attention on children with language difficulties.

She has received several national award including becoming fellow of ASHA in 1971 and Rockford Illinois’ YWCA education award.

"Mildred Berry was the second woman to receive a PH.D in speech pathology. Dr. Berry’s accomplishments were summed up wonderfully in 1971 when the American Speech and Hearing Association honored her, "For her unique creativity and pioneering in establishing clinics and programs to serve those with communication disorders in this as well as other countries; For her boundless academic, inquiry and pursuit of excellence in scholarly and professional endeavors; For her gift of communication which, through her writing has taught countless speech pathologists and which, at her lectures has made learning a delight; For her capacity to live as a world citizen, interested in educational and cultural advancement of all people; For her love which has warmed the lives of all those whom she has touched." This award is given to a woman in education who has made significant impact in her field."

Mildred Freberg married James Berry in 1924 and they had one son, Richard Warren.

Her professional work career went as follows:

Instructor Speech, University of Iowa, 1922-26

Professor of Speech, Rockford College, 1926

Lecturer in Speech, Fulbright Foundation, University of Olso, Norway 1952-3

Fulbright, Copenhagen Denmark 1956-1957

Lecturer in Speech, University of Wisconsin and the University of Denver.

Woman of the Year, Delta Zeta Sorority, 1951

Honors of ASHA, 1971

Rockford, Illinois, YWCA Education Award

Passages and photo of M. Berry, March 1984, ASHA, 35-38.

Berry’s Professional Writings, in Chronological Order

Berry, M. F. (1925). A study of twenty selected cases of s lisp. Master’s thesis. Iowa City, University of Iowa.

Berry, M.F. (1928). A survey of intercollegiate debate in the Mid-West Debate Conference. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 14, 86-94.

Berry, M. F. (1928). Correction of cleft-palate speech by phonetic instruction. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 14, 523-529.

Berry, M. F. (1931). Lincoln—the speaker. Part 1. Quarterly Journal of Speech. 17, 25-40. Part 2. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 17, 177-190.

Berry, M. F. (1932). That white headed boy-neurology. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 18, 45-60. (Here Berry describes to teachers how neurology may be of service to the teacher of psychology of speech.

Berry, M. F. (1937a). A Study of the medical history of stuttering children. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.

Berry, M. F. (1937b). A study of stuttering in twinning families. Human Biology, 9, 329-346.

Berry, M. F. (1938a). Developmental history of stuttering children. Journal of Pediatrics, 12, 209-217.

Berry, M.F. (1938b). A study of the medical history of stuttering children. Speech Monographs, 5, 97-114.

Berry, M. F. (1938c). A common denominator in twinning and stuttering, Journal of Speech Disorders, 3, 51-57.

West, R., Nelson, S. & Berry, M. F. (1939). The heredity of stuttering. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 25, 23-30.

Berry, M. & Eisenson,, J. (1942). The defective in speech. NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts

Berry, M. (1946a). The modern teacher of speech is obsolete. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 32, 143-145.

Berry, M. (1946b). a Liberal education for the teacher of speech. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 32, 287-291.

Berry, M. F., & Eisenson, J. (1956). Speech disorders: Principles and practices of therapy. NY: Appleton Century Crofts.

Berry, M. F. (1965). Historical vignettes of leadership in speech and hearing: III Stuttering. American Speech and Hearing Association, 7, 78-79.

Berry, M. F., & Talbott, R. (1966). Exploratory test of grammar. Rockford, IL: Privately distributed by M. Berry.

Berry, M. F. (1969). Language disorders of children: The bases and diagnoses. NY: Appleton Century Crofts.

Berry, M. F. (1980). Teaching linguistically handicapped children. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.