Let the Buyer Beware

Let the Buyer AVOID

Image created by Grant Meredith and used here with permission

Misleading adverts - an article in Speaking Out by the British Stammering Association Chair Leys Geddes who has been involved in a campaign against advertisements that give false hope by offering to 'cure' stammering.

Digital snake oil: The emergence of online stuttering scams and slams by Grant Meredith and Anthony Gunn, written for the ISAD 2012 online conference.

ANY proposed speech therapy program for stuttering/stammering that claims to cure or eliminate stuttering in adults that has established an online presence will be listed below. Most of these "programs" are simply ways to empty the pocketbooks of people who stutter. Sites that advertise cures and rely only on "testimonials" (which are often simply made up by the scam artist putting the site online) should be avoided.

• Tony Pearson's "Quackery Alert!!" for "KillYourStutter".
• And a link to this page!A classic example of a scam program - KillYourStutter
• Arjun Lal from Canada has developed many scam sites. Compare the following two. Notice the sites are basically identical except for the product advertised. Some of the "verified testimonials" are simply pictures of people that Lal has lifted off the internet without permission, given a false name and written a "testimonial" for.
  • scam Kill Your Stutter
  • Lal has a very similar site for a male enhancement product with several of the same pictures and "verified testimonials." It is not linked here because I do not want search engines to block my site from schools.

  If you type the words kill your stutter scam into Google, there are many sites that when you open them, lead to the kill your stutter site. This is yet another marketing ploy to be aware of. Some of the sites found using Google's search engine, open "reviews" such as one by Dan H, who has published 23 articles online "reviewing" many products, leading the reader to websites to purchase products, undoubtedly as click-throughs to sites promising money to the referrer. I will not provide the URL, but Dan H publishes a review of Kill You Stutter that blames the person who stutters if he is not successful with the program. This is yet another red flag that should warn the reader that this program is a SCAM. See Dan's statement below.

  

  You can also find a few good "Quackery Alerts" for Kill Your Stutter

A few other examples of online programs that guarantee a cure for stuttering

• Stuttering Doctor by Edward Thompson (more information)
• Shifa International Institute of Stammering Cure YouTube advertisement claims "Stuttering is a psychological problem"
• Natural Therapy for Stuttering Cure Homeopathic help to stop stammering
• Stuttering Cures
• The PRO9OD Speech System by Michael Williams
• Stuttering Dissolution "Overcoming stuttering is now a choice. . . YOUR choice!"
• The Stammering-Cured Fluency Centre - Andrew Bell
• My Own Experience With Stammering Treatment Procedures by John Wheater reporting outcome of two intensive programs in the UK.
• Stuttering Treatment Innovations advertises "Cutting Edge Treatment to Eliminate Stuttering"
• Anna Deeter's Live Stutter Free - Elimination of Stuttering in Three Days offers three "levels" of treatment via Skype for $6000-$8000 and states "At all three levels, each and every graduate will achieve the same, 100% successful outcome guaranteed by their commitment and diligence."
• A Review of Stuttering Solved!: Definitive Solution For Speech Perfection Based On Natural Laws Discovered and Explained by Dr. Roman Snezhko - by Paul Goldstein (Vindenes, Norway)
• Homeopathy for Children: How to Help a Stuttering Child

Additional Suggestions On Managing Stuttering Behaviors

Additional Information on Stammering Therapy for Adults - from the BSA website.

Most of the following suggestions and websites have been developed by individuals who stutter. In those cases, they feel their ideas have worked for them and are shared below. The SHP makes no guarentees or endorsements, it simply provides information that others may find useful. The reader is warned that an idea may work for one individual and not for another.

• Some personal clinical nuggets suggested by people who stutter, and extracted from various mailing lists
• The entire fifth edition (minus appendix and footnotes) of Self-Therapy for the Stutterer, by Malcolm Fraser. (This is in one large file of 138K and is may available with the permission of the Stuttering Foundation of America).
  • Essays - by John Harrison from his book, How To Conquer Your Fears Of Speaking Before People, Reviewed by Peter O'Sullivan
  • Do You Suffer From Paradigm Paralysis - by John Harrison
  • And the Stuttering Just Dies by Jack Menear and A Personal Interview With a Recovered Stutterer -- Jack Menear by John C. Harrison
  • Why Talking Is Easier While You're "Being" Someone Else by John HarrisonJohn Harrison
• EMDR as Therapy for Stuttering? by Dale Sander, who is exploring EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing).