At the risk of sounding repetitive, it is time to restate our campaign against the "Kill Your Stutter" product that is currently being sold over the net through the on-line marketing company Clickbank. On the face of it, the whole thing seems frivolous and ridiculous, something nobody would fall for. Yet the price of the e-book that claims to be able to stop stuttering in 10 minutes has risen steadily since its introduction, from $37 to $97 – it would seem sales are going strong. The people who sell it have nothing but contempt for people who stutter, as illustrated by the communication on an on-line forum where they make fun of stuttering and comment that people who stutter "seem like a good desperate niche [market]".
To reprise, Clickbank is an on-line marketing company specializing in e-books, or on-line pdf documents. Marketers place any product – usually an e-book related to health or self-improvement – in the Clickbank marketplace. They are then advertised by “affiliates” who promote the products with fake ads and articles that pretend to be health journals or legitimate reviews of products by health professionals, which they are not. The affiliates get up to 75% commission on the products that are sold by clicking through their ads and articles.
The Product
The "Kill Your Stutter" product is a 10-page pdf, with large type, bad grammar and spelling mistakes. The instructions in it seem to be based on principles of Neuro-linguistic programming, involving mental exercises, thought experiments and advice on attitude and confidence building, as well as techniques such as "singing loudly to yourself". This is supposed to stop stuttering in ten minutes.
Neuro-linguistic Programming
If you are interested in Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) as it relates to stuttering, there are some legitimate discussions of this topic, such as Bob G. Bodenhamer's book, Mastering Blocking and Stuttering. The CSA does not promote NLP as a treatment. It is not clinically proven to help reduce stuttering, nor are there professional studies done on it or reviews of the techniques in peer-reviewed professional journals. Some people say it helped them. By all accounts Bob Bodenhamer is forthright and believes in what he is selling. He is not a doctor or a speech pathologist. His book does NOT claim to cure stuttering easily, or in ten minutes. (Stay tuned for a review of Mastering Blocking and Stuttering that will be soon be featured on this website) If you are interested in this topic by all means look into it, but please do not line the pockets of a dishonest marketer who is only out to deceive and take advantage of vulnerable people.
Mastering Blocking and Stuttering is available for $25 + S&H from one of Bob Bodenhamer's websites, and from Amazon, where the Kindle version is $37.
Bob Bodenhamer also runs a yahoo user group about the neurology of stuttering.