The Use of Altered Speech Feedback in Stuttering Management

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Re: Theory to Practice

From: Greg
Date: 10/5/02
Time: 5:29:58 PM
Remote Name: 68.105.255.171

Comments

Hi Judy,

I agree with you in your ‘buyer-beware’ opinion regarding a variety of “stuttering-solved” therapies and devices; snake-oil is definitely marketed to take advantage of (and profit off of) people’s hope. However, I will say that the altered speech feedback phenomenon already has a tremendous amount of research under its belt. There are _many_ peer-reviewed articles supporting its ability to produce natural sounding fluency enhancement that remains stable in even difficult speaking situations.

But then again, stuttering is what people make of it. So if a person who stutters believes that it’s a “horrific disorder”—then to them, it most probably is. Others like myself may see it as an unlikely gift that gives me a unique world view. My point is that, in my opinion, all reasonable therapeutic options should be presented to our stuttering clients. Since one single treatment has yet to emerge as clearly dominant over all the others—it just makes intuitive sense to inform clients of the 3 basic genres (fluency shaping, stuttering modification, prosthetic devices), and let them make their own decisions.

As a person who stutters, I have not plunked down the rather sizeable sum of money for a prosthetic device. However, I’ll openly state that if I had a child who stutters, I would strongly consider utilizing such a device as part of the stuttering management program.


Last changed: September 12, 2005