Trained under experimental psychology pioneer Wilhelm Wundt, Scripture became best known for his contributions to speech science.

After graduation from Leipzig, Scripture and his family returned to the United States in 1891 where he was hired as faculty by Granville Stanley Hall at Clark University.

[4] On July 8, 1892, Scripture along with Granville Stanley Hall co-founded the American Psychological Association.

In 1902, Scripture received the first grant for experimental psychology from the Carnegie Institution in order to study the sounds of human speech.

[3] After a debate concerning the definition of the science of psychology with George Trumbull Ladd, Chair of the department, Scripture was fired from Yale in 1903.

[2] May Scripture was an expert in language disorders herself, and she served as the director of speech correction at the Vanderbilt Clinic.

Scripture traveled to London in 1919, where he began a speech clinic at West End Hospital for Nervous Diseases.

Given the evidence from his participants, Scripture was able to identify the four most simplified processes that occur in the act of association: preparation, influence, expansion, and after-effect.

Scripture believed that if any patient could learn to use the octave twist properly, it would be impossible to stutter.