Recent investigations in the field of speech pathology are focusing increasingly on possible relationships among the pathological natures of those speech disorders having an emotional base (e.g., stuttering, stagefright, reticence). The psychological and sociological context of reticence--the avoidance of social and verbal interaction--should be of particular concern to teachers of public speaking, since existing pedagogy either ignores this problem altogether or, by insisting on every student's full participation in the "recitation-criticism" aspects of public speaking courses, actually penalizes reticence or intensifies the problem. Teachers of public speaking have in the past often assumed that everyone is trainable to some extent in communication skills and that strength of will is sufficient to remedy any human difficulty. What is actually needed, however, is a clinical approach to this disorder that can be readily applied in the public speaking classroom, and a revision of the "recitation-criticism" teaching methodology. (JM)