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From: Judy Kuster
Date: 23 Oct 2009
Time: 10:11:05 -0500
Remote Name: 134.29.31.181
There are long-term studies currently being conducted. Keep your eyes open for articles by Larry Molt who is currently doing a longitudinal study. In the meantime, you might be interested in reading an article from last year’s conference authored by Ryan Pollard and John Ellis, The SpeechEasy: Emerging evidence for interested clinicians and prospective buyers (http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/isad11/papers/pollard11.html . There is a chapter in Barry Guitar’s recent (copyright 2010) Treatment of Stuttering written by Peter Ramig, Pollard and Ellis about the “Application of the SpeechEasy to Stuttering Treatment: Introduction, Background, and Preliminary Observation.” Their chapter includes: “We would like to conclude this chapter with our personal reasons for including the SpeechEasy as a potential treatment option within our clinical practice. . . . We were initially doubtful of the worthiness of the SpeechEasy as a treatment tool and felt that the only way to learn firsthand about the device was to examine it while keeping an open mind. Based on our experiences during SpeechEasy training, we agreed that the device had a positive effect on our fluency and thought that it could be of potential benefit to some of our clients.” p, 327-328. I don’t think anyone in my profession is saying the SpeechEasy is the answer for all people who stutter. What I believe is that it may be an effective tool for some people who stutter, especially when combined with speech therapy.