Walter Babcock Swift

1869-1942

Walter Babcock Swift was a laryngologist and neurologist specializing in speech defects. He taught in the School of Education at Case Western Reserve University and was an instructor in Neuropathology at Tufts College Medical School. He also served as Director of a Voice Clinic in Boston State Hospital's Psychopathic Department. He was widely known as an advisor to public school programs throughout the United States providing suggestions for how to set up speech therapy services.

His credits listed in his first book, "Speech defects in school children and how to treat them", include the following:

Instructor in Speech Disorder, Wheelock School, Boston

Clinical assistant in Laryngology, Harvard University Graduate School of Medicine

Assistant in the Laryngological Department Speech Clinic, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

Medical Supervisor of speech classes in Fall River Public Schools, Fall River Massachusetts.

Director of the Kindergarten Speech Clinic (Fall River Public Schools?)

Swift was a founder and president of National Society for the Study and Correction of Speech Disorders, estimated to be in existence from 1918 to 1931. This organization was composed of public school teachers of speech correction, with members being mostly from Eastern US (Paden, 1975, p. 571). It preceded by 13 years the emergence of the American Academy of Speech Correction, the organization that evolved into the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Swift held that stuttering was a "visual central asthenia" caused by absent or weak visualization at the time of speech.

Walter Babcock Swift, was born on December 24, 1869 in Geneva, Switzerland). The "Babcock" was his mother's maiden name Isabella (Babcock) Swift. In November of 1907, Walter Swift married Edith Hale, a physician. The Swifts had two children: Barbara (born February 28, 1910, in Berlin, Germany, and Phyllis, born December 14, 1911 in Boston, Massachusetts).

Swift attended the Emerson College of Oratory, graduating in 1898. He received his bachelors degree in Arts from Harvard in 1903, his degree in Science from Harvard in 1906, and his medical degree in 1907 from Harvard. He went for additional medical training in nervous diseases from the University of Berlin in 1909.

A Chronological Listing of Swift's Writings

Swift, W. B. (1914). Further analysis of the voice sign in chorea. American Journal of Diseases of Children, v.8, Oct.

Swift, W. B. (1915). A psychological analysis of stuttering. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 10, 225-235.

Swift, W. B. (1915). The hygiene of the voice before debates. The Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking, 1, 114-126. (speech read before a debate club)

Swift, W. B. (1915). The development of a mental defective by vocal drill. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 173, No. 20, p. 745-746.

Swift, W. B. (1916). A psychological analysis of stuttering. Studies in Abnormal Psychology, Series 6, 225-235.

Swift, W. B. (1916). Psychological analysis of stuttering. Scientific American, 81, 2-3.

Swift, W. B., & Hedrick, Jennie (1916). Some psychological steps in the recovery of one stutterer. Volta Review, 18, 36-37.

Swift, W. B. (1916). What is a "speech clinic?" Proceedings of the National Education Association, 54, 867-868.

Swift, W. B. (1916). The developmental psychology of stuttering. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 11, 258-264.

Swift, W. B. (1916). Elimination of voice defects following adenoid and tonsil operations. Volta Review, 18, 17-18.

Swift, W. B. (1916). The management of the speech defect problem in the public schools. Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking, 2, 3, 304-307.

Swift, W. B. (1917). The developmental psychology of stuttering. Studies in Abnormal Psychology, Series 7, 258-264.

Swift, W. B. (1917). The mental imagery of stutterers. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 12.

Swift, W. B. (1917). Psychological parallelisms between speech disorder and oral English. Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking, 3, 224-228.

Swift, W. B., & Hedrick, J. (1917). Sidetracking of stuttering by 'starters'. Volta Review, 19, 299-300. See also, Journal of Applied Psychology, 1, 1, 84-88.

Swift, W. B., & Hedrick, D. (1917). Sidetracking of stuttering by 'starters'. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2, 89-91.

Swift, W. B. (1918). Psychological analysis of stuttering. Scientific American Supplement, 81, 2-3.

Swift, W. B. (1918). The special teacher as the economic solution of the speech disorder problem in public schools. Proceedings of the National Education Association, 671-677.

Swift, W. B. (1918). Speech defects in school children and how to treat them. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Swift, W. B. (1918). Part-time vs. special teacher as the economic solution of the speech disorder problem in the public schools: With discussion. Proceedings of the National Education Association, 671-677.

Swift, W. B., & Hedrick, J. (1918). A note on mental peculiarities as symptoms in stuttering. Journal of Applied Psychology, 2, 89-91.

Swift, W. B. (1919). Can stuttering be outgrown? Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, 5, 368-374.

Swift, W. B. (1919). How to begin speech correction in public schools. Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, 5, 239-245. (Also published in Volta Review, 1919, 21: 585-589.

Swift, W. B. (1919). Mental attitudes in debate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 3, 156-166.

Swift, W. B. (1920). Discussion of the emotional theory of stuttering (Kenyon). Volta Review, 20, 510-518. (An answer to an article by Dr. Elmer L. Kenyon in American Journal of Diseases of Children, 18, 537-545, Dec. 1919, and Volta Review, 22, 39-45, Jan. 1920.

Swift, W. B. (1920). The drunken horse, the superintendent, and the stutterer. Volta Review, 22, 47-49.

Swift, W. B. (1920). A reasonable objection to unscientific methods in speech correction. Volta Review, 22, 166-168. (Swift objects to the treatment given his method in an earlier edition of the Volta Review-September 1919).

Swift, W. B. (1929). The speech in medicine. Med. J. Rec., 130, 192-195.

Swift, W. B. (1930). Why visualization is the best method for stammering. In R. West (Ed.), A symposium on stuttering. Madison, WI: College Typing Co.

Swift, W. B. (1931) Why visualization is the best method for stammering. In Proceedings of the American Speech Correction Association, 1, 83-91.

Swift, W. B. (1932). Details (psychological) of the visual treatment of stammering. Proceedings of the American Society for the Study of Disorders of Speech, 2, 85-90.

Swift, W. B. (1943). In E. Hahn (Ed.), Stuttering: Significant theories and therapies. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Swift, W. B. (1972). How to begin speech correction in the public schools. Language Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 3, 51-56. (reprint from 1919 article, see above).