Bryngelson was a pioneer in the profession of speech pathology. "His contributions were many and varied, with stuttering and people remaining is first love. From AHSA's earliest days, Bryngelson was an involved and contributing member. He earned his B.A. degree at Carleton College in 1916. His M.S. and Ph.D. degrees were conferred by the University of Iowa in 1926 and 1931 resprectively. His Ph.D. was in clinical psychology and speech pathology. From ASHA's earliest days, Bryngelson was an involved and contributing member. He was a fellow and served as treasurer from 1933-1942 and president during the years of 1943 and 1944. He became a life member in 1960 and in 1963 received ASHA's highest award, the Honors of the Association. The major part of Bryngelson's professional career was spent at the University of Minnesota. He joined the faculty in 1927 and in that same year founded the speech clinic. He also established the aphasia clinic at the V.A. Hospital in Minneapolis and in addition, founded the Minnesota Speech And Hearing Association. In 1960, he retired as professor emeritus of speech and clinical professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, the University established the Bryng Bryngelson Communication Disorders Research Fund. . . . Though retired, Bryngelson continued his professional activities, publishing a number of articles as well as authoring several books. Bryng's presence at conventions and professional gatherings will long be remembered. His impact on students, colleagues, and the entire profession was a very real one and will continue for years to come." (written by Sam Haroldson for >b>ASHA, February 1980, volume 22, number 2, p. 107)

While at the University of Minnesota, in addition to developing a speech clinic there, pursuing a life-long interest in stuttering, and publishing an articulation test (the Bryngelson-Glaspey) that I used in my own training program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison (JAK), Bryngelson is remembered for his research on left-handedness. "After 30 years of research with left-handedness, Dr. Bryng Bryngelson of the University of Minnesota estimated 35 percent of all children would develop into left-handers if no one pressured them to use their right hands." from Welcome to my Lefty page

Dave Williams, writes in Wendell Johnson and Charles Van Riper: A Remembrance of Them and Their Era, "In August 1929 he went to see Bryng Bryngelson at the University of Minnesota. Bryngelson was developing a speech clinic there, and was especially interested in stuttering. He put Van Riper through a battery of tests and concluded that a change of handedness was called for. He also told Van Riper about the stuttering program at Iowa under Travis, and recommended that he go there for therapy -- Bryngelson himself was going to Iowa the following year to work on his Ph. D. in speech pathology."

One of Bryngelson's important contributions to the field of stuttering therapy was his concept of "voluntary stuttering." Both Van Riper and Wendell Johnson were influenced by the work of Bryngelson at Iowa in the early 1930's. (Bloodstein, Handbook on Stuttering).

Van Riper recalls some of his therapy sessions with Bryngelson (The Treatment of Stuttering, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1973, p. 365).

"The author of this text, formerly a very severe stutterer, was fortunate enough to have some good advice from Bryng Bryngelson shortly after he had acquired excellent fluency by modifying his own stuttering behaviors. Bryngelson suggested that, for a period of six weeks, the author, in a new life situation, pose as being a severe stutterer during the hours from 8 A.M. to 6 P.M., and then thereafter until he went to bed try to speak as well as he could. Reluctantly we acceded to this Cinderella therapy and followed the program quire thoroughly. It was very hard to do pseudo-stuttering so many hours a day when we knew we could speak fluently and we welcomed the clock striking six. Nevertheless, the program resolved our identity conflicts and no relapse occurred. In passing, we may say that we have never been able to get one of our own stutterers to carry out such a project."

At Iowa Bryngelson's Ph.D. thesis was supervised by Wendell Johnson.

Bryngelson, Bryng. A Phono-Photographic Analysis of the Vocal Disturbances in Stuttering. 1931. Thesis from University of Iowa