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Anfernee had stuttered ever since he was four years old, but everyone from his pediatrician to the school speech therapist thought he would outgrow it.  Instead his stuttering progressed.  It was getting worse, not better!  Embarrassed by his stuttering, 12 year old Anfernee was becoming a loner.  In this era of computer games and i-Pods, he was retreating into his own world.  This world was a safe place where he didn’t have to speak, but he missed playing with friends.

At his 13 year old medical check-up, Anfernee took matters into his own hands.  He asked his pediatrician to refer him to a speech therapist. Soon he was off to Wolfson Rehabilitation Services where he met “Miss Roni.”  It didn’t take long before his speech began to change. He was learning how to sound out words and breathe while talking.  He also learned that he was in some pretty famous company… James Earl Jones aka "Darth Vader" had stuttered.   

After 8 months of therapy, Anfernee was awarded the Sean Anderson Memorial Scholarship for a Free Anti-Stuttering Device.  As the statewide winner of this scholarship, Anfernee made remarkable progress within weeks.  SpeechEasy, the Anti-Stuttering Device, is a small earpiece that is similar in appearance to a hearing aid. However, rather than amplifying sound, SpeechEasy alters sounds that go through the device so that you hear your voice. With his device, Anfernee’s hears his own words, but they are slightly delayed and are uttered in a voice that sounds like an Alien. The purpose of the speech delay and the Alien pitch change creates a natural phenomenon known as the “choral effect” resulting in dramatically reducing or even eliminating the stutter.