Robert William West

1892-1968

Robert West was one of the founding fathers of the profession of speech-language pathology. His reputation was built upon his outstanding contributions to the organization of ASHA and his writing, especially the handbook on Rehabilitation of Speech that he wrote with his colleagues (first edition, 1937).

West began his professional career as a high school teacher in a county school in Wisconsin. After teaching for 17 years, he entered college, receiving a BA in 1916 from West Virginia College. He served in the medical corps at Camp Wheeler during the first world war, but was not accepted into armed forces because of his hyperthyroidism.

Following the war West obtained a masters’ degree at the University of Wisconsin. In 1920 he became an Assistant Professor of Speech at University of Wisconsin.While he longed to be a physician, Smiley Blanton, his teacher at Wisconsin, Smiley Blanton, convinced him to stay in speech rather than go to Medical School. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1925 from the University of Wisconsin, being the second person in this country to get a Ph.D. in the field of Speech Disorders (after Sara Stinchfield, who received hers in 1922).

After receiving his doctorate, West became Director of the Speech Clinic at the University of Wisconsin serving in that capacity from 1928 to 1950.

He was very active in organizational affairs, serving as President of Speech Association of America in 1943 and as a charter member of ASHA (1925) (American Academy of Speech Correction). He was also the first president of ASHA, with a term of office from 1925-1928.

To recognize West’s contribution to the profession, ASHA awarded him honors of the association in 1947

In 1950, West left Wisconsin because of a disagreement with the administration at the University of Wisconsin. He moved to Brooklyn College and stayed there as director of the Speech Clinic until 1963.Among his students that became well known were Lou Kennedy. West lost an election at Brooklyn College for Chair because of his position of accepting dialects as legitimate differences (Bloodstein, 1999).

In 1963, West made his final academic move and went to College of the Pacific in Stockton California.

Writings of Robert West arranged chronologically

West, R. (1919). Qualities of context orations. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 5, 254-257.

West, R. (1919). Methods used in computing contest scores. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 5, 319-333.

West, R. and Larsen, Helen (1921). Some statistical investigations in the field of speech. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 7, 375-382.

West, R. (1924). Purposive speaking; a college text book for courses in public speaking. New York: The Macmillan Company.

West, R. (1925). Notes on apparatus usable in the study of voice. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 11, 243-246.

West, R. (1925). The modern university and speech. American Speech, December.

West, R. (1926a). Diagnosis of disorders of speech; a clinical manual of methods apparatus. Madison, Wisconsin: H.C. Netherwood Printing Co.

West, R. (1926b).The nature of vocal sounds. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 12, 244-295.

West, R. W. (1926). Diagnosis of disorders of speech; a clinical manual of methods apparatus. Madison, Wis.,: H.C. Netherwood Printing Co.

West, R. (1928). The nature of the glottal closure for phonation, 14, 508-522.

West, R. (1929a). A neurological test for stutterers. Journal of Neurology and Psychopathology, 38, 114-123.

West, R. & Nusbaum, Edward (1929b). A motor test for dysphemia (stuttering). Quarterly Journal of Speech, 15, 469-479.

West, R. (Ed.). (1931). A symposium on stuttering. Madison, WI: College Typing Company.

West, R. (1931). A symposium on stuttering. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 17, 301-320.

West, R. (1933). Disorders of speech and voice. Madison, WI: College Typing Co.

Kantner, Claude & West, Robert (1933/1941/1946/1960). Phonetics: An introduction to the principles of phonetic science from the point of view of English speech. NY: Harper.

West, R. (1935a). A view of the larynx through a new stroboscope. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 21, 455-461.

West, R. (1935). Speech and hearing. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 21, 177-188.

West, R. (1936a). Diagnosis of disorders of speech: A clinical manual of methods and apparatus. Madison, Wisconsin: College Typing Company.

West, R. (1936b). Is stuttering abnormal? Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 31, 1.

West, R., & Kantner, C. E. (1936c). Phonetics; an introduction to the principles of phonetic science from the point of view of English speech (3rd ed.). Madison, Wisconsin.

Kantner, Claude and West, R. (1936d). An apologia of a new phonetic classification. Quarterly Journal of Speech 22, 221-235.

West, R. (1936e). Speech training as a preventive of neurosis. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 22, 614-617.

West, R., Kennedy, L., & Carr, A. (1937a). The rehabilitation of speech: A textbook of diagnostic and corrective procedures. NY: Harper and Bros.

West, R. (1937b). Gentlemen: I stand corrected? 23, 402-409.

West, R. (1938). The function of the speech pathologists in studying cases of dysphonia. Journal of Speech Disorders, 3, 81-84.

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

West, R. (1940). A critique of the rationales of tests of hearing. Journal of Speech Disorders, 4, 19-24.

West, R. (1943). The pathology of stuttering. Nervous Child, 2, 96-106.

West, R. (1944). The prospect for speech education. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 30, 13-146.

West, R., Kennedy, L., & Carr, A. (1947). Aphasia in adults. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

West, R., Kennedy, L., Carr, A., & Backus, O. L. (1947). The rehabilitation of speech: A textbook of diagnostic and corrective procedures based upon a critical study of speech disorders (Rev. ed.). New York: Harper.

West, R. (1948). Group testing of hearing. Journal of Speech Disorders, 8, 279-283.

West, R., Ansberry, M., & Carr, A. (1957). The rehabilitation of speech; a textbook of diagnostic and corrective procedures based upon a critical study of speech disorders (3rd ed.). NY: Harper.

West, R. (1958). Ibi Fuistis. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 23, 26-30.

West, R. (1959). Speech science in the first half of the twentieth century.In Oliver Tarbell (Ed.) Re-establishing the speech profession: The first fifty years. (pp. 24-28) Speech Association of the Eastern States.

West, R. (1959). History of the specialties of speech science. In Oliver Tarbell (Ed.) Re-establishing the speech profession: The first fifty years (pp. 29-34).Speech Association of the Eastern States.

Wischner, G., Brown, S., Sheehan, J., & West, R. (1959). Research needs in speech pathology and audiology: III Report of subcommittee on the problem of stuttering and problems of rate and fluency.Speech Monograph Supplement 5, 26-30.

West, R. (1960). The association in historical perspective. ASHA, 2, 8-11.

West, R. (1961). To our new members—ave et vale. ASHA, 3, 6-8.(Contains a much quoted Hippocratic Oath for speech pathologists.)

West, R.(1961). Review of Robert Hejna’s: Speech Disorders and Nondirective Therapy: Client-Centered Counseling and Play Therapy. The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 74, No. 4, p. 664

West, R. (1962). Childhood aphasia; proceedings. San Francisco, CA: California Society for Crippled Children and Adults.

West, R. (1966). An historical review of the American literature in speech pathology. In R. W. Rieber & R. S. Brubaker (Eds.), Speech pathology: An international study of the science (pp. 24-41). Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co.

West, R., & Ansberry, M. (1968). The rehabilitation of speech; a textbook of diagnostic and corrective procedures based upon a critical study of speech disorders (4th ed.). NY: Harper & Row.

Writings about Robert West, arranged alphabetically

Obituary: ASHA, 1968, 10, 331-332

Bloodstein, Oliver (1999), West goes east: A recollection of Robert West’s years at Brooklyn College. ASHA, 41, pp. 27-31.

Siegel, Gerald (2008). Robert West: A personal reminiscence. ASHA Leader, 13, 9, 25.

Van Riper, C. (1981). An earlier history of ASHA. ASHA, 23, 855-858.

West, Gladys Vera (1971) Comments from his wife, Gladys Vera West, ASHA, 13, 2, 57-60.