Anti-Stuttering Devices and Assistive Devices for the Treatment of Stuttering

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Re: I acquired one of the first Edinburgh Maskers

From:
Date: 31 Oct 2005
Time: 15:36:29 -0600
Remote Name: 131.204.163.181

Comments

Hi Alan Thank you for you kind comments about the paper, and more importantly, thank you for sharing your experiences with the Edinburgh Masker (EM) - they were very interesting and gave the readers some delightful insights about life with the device. Marty Jezer shared similar comments with the STUTT-L internet list-serve on many occassions. I remember speaking with Marty about his experiences while at one of the National Stuttering Association conventions. He told me that while the EM did not eliminate all his disfluencies, it certainly "took the edge off", and allowed him to enter difficult speaking situations with a high degree of confidence that he could communicate more effectively thanks to the device. I also had the pleasure of speaking with Herb Goldberg (a businessman from Chicago, IL, USA) several times about his experiences with the Edinburgh Masker. As I know you're aware, Herb received so much benefit from the EM that he created a not-for-profit charitable organization, the "Foundation For Fluency", whose focus was to help purchase the device for individuals of lesser financial means. I last saw Herb at the 1998 ASHA convention and the 1999 NSA convention (during which his selection to the NSA Hall of Fame was celebrated). At that time he was no longer wearing the EM. He said that years of use and success with the device had given him the confidence that he could speak fluently even in the most challenging situations. This encouraged him to attempt to gradually "wean" himself from the device and still maintain a very high level of fluency. At the time I last spoke to him, he had been off the device for 5 years and was still pleased with his fluency level.


Last changed: 02/20/07