image of the dog himself, causing the child to look about in
search for him.

HOW WE LEARN TO TALK: We learn to talk, therefore, purely by
observation and imitation. Observation is here used in a broad
sense and means not only SEEING but SENSING, such as sensing by
smelling, touching or tasting. The child imitates the sounds he
hears and if these sounds emanate from those afflicted with
defective utterance, then it follows that the initial utterance of
the child will be likewise defective.

SOURCE OF THE FIRST WORD: The first spoken word of the child
usually finds its source in some name or word repeatedly spoken in
the child's presence. It is not usual that this first word is
marked by a defective utterance and if such should be the case,
then it is safe to say that this faulty utterance can be traced
back to the imitation of some member of the family, or some child
who has been permitted to talk to the child in his pre-speaking
period. There is little to be gained by tracing the first word
back, for no very profound conclusion can safely be registered
with such a basis, for no matter what the word be and no matter
whether it be correctly or imperfectly enunciated, it is the
result of imitation.

There may be two exceptions to this, however, one being the case
of a child with a physical defect in the organs of speech and the
other that of a child who has inherited from the parents a
predisposition to stammer or stutter. These exceptions, however,
are so rare as to hardly require consideration. In the first (that
of a physical defect) it is hardly probable that an organic defect