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From: Rick
Date: 02 Oct 2007
Time: 09:45:03 -0500
Remote Name: 128.255.90.168
Hello Jonathan, Thanks for your post. I will be the first to admit that I am not an expert on the theory behind why AAF works. I personally find it helpful in certain situations and know that other people do as well so I wrote the program so that people could use it for free. My interpretation of it is that the AAF messes with auditory feedback which is an important part of speech production. With this change in the persons ability to monitor their own voice online it makes subtle changes to the planning/motor aspects of speech production. For what ever reason this seems to have a facilitating effect for fluent speech in most people who stutter. It could be do to the fact that in most cases where speech production is changed from the normal mode of speaking it facilitates fluent speech, for example, talking in a funny voice or yelling. I am sure that there are several people out there who have a better "understanding" of how AAF may work, and I totally encourage them to post on this discussion becuase I would like to learn more myself. As far as getting started in speaking if you often have silent blocks at the beginning, you are right that AAF does not directly help that. However, I am also a person who primarily has silent blocks and I have found that doing those little starters, like a short "ahh", can really help when I am using AAF and even when I am not using it. In fact that is one of the things that AAF has helped me to practice and start to carry over in to the real world when I do not use AAF. Thanks again for your post, Rick