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From: Mike Hughes
Date: 10/9/01
Time: 8:37:29 AM
Remote Name: 134.29.30.79
Comments
Gert,
Electronic devices to alleviate stuttering are an option that every severe stutterer should evaluate. Think of the benefits: 1) You get to shop from your home. 2) They are reasonably priced at @ $500. 3) They come with a guaranteed trial period - try them for 90 days and return them if they prove to be not effective in your case.
Why are SLPs so negative about them? Think of their marketing concerns about what the devices offer that they don't: 1) For an intensive stuttering therapy program, you may have to travel long distances from home, pay transportation costs, living expenses, course costs, and lose time from work. 2) We surveyed the cost of attending a non-local intensive therapy course about ten years ago. The costs mentioned above added up to approximately $5,000. Today, that cost may be $8-$10,000. 3) There is no guarantee of success - other than the likelihood that the unsuccessful client will be blamed for any failure.
Electronic devices (DAF included) are not for everyone. But they are an option to be evaluated by anyone.
Some SLPs are negative out of ignorance, arrogance, or plain stupidity. Stutterers should beware two things: professionals that guarantee a "cure," and professionals that dismiss a stutterer's right to consider other options. Too often these professionals do not know what they think they know.
Mike