 |
USER SPOTLIGHT: SpeechEasy Device Gives A Young Man A New Life ... 19-year-old Says SpeechEasy Changed his World
It couldn't get much worse.
Jordan Cowl was like any other high school student. He wanted to participate in all that life had to offer, and to make friends and have fun. Unfortunately, the challenge of fluency made life more than difficult. It was at times, cruel.
"I was teased. I was a social outcast," says Jordan Cowl, now a sophomore in college. "My quality of life is so much better now because I'm not self-conscious of how I am when I'm out. Before, I would go with a few friends to the mall and never talk. Now, I can go out and I can talk and have a much better time."
Jordan, who has used the SpeechEasy device for five months, says since using his device, life is now very different.
"It was a complete 180 - when I was in high school, I rarely talked. I would either try to talk to the teacher and get out of any assignments requiring me to talk, or I would take a zero. If I had this in high school and I could go back, I would do things totally different."
Jordan understands the frustration of not being fluent - he has stuttered since childhood, and uses his therapy training when not wearing the device. "I normally don't use it whenever I am talking in front of my family, because they've known me my whole life, or if I'm in the presence of friends I've known for a long time because I know they aren't going to make fun of it either."
But Jordan definitely wears it when he is socializing. In fact, according to him, before using the device socializing didn't exist.
"It (the device) has actually gotten me a social life. Before, I would never talk in school. I actually had a project due in my college orientation class. If I didn't have my SpeechEasy device in, I would not have talked and would have received a 0 credit. Instead I talked more than anyone in my whole group!"
"When I had my first year at college, I didn't have it and I didn't talk to anybody. Now I am more social than I have ever been in my life. It's actually given me confidence - before I would just not even bother -- I was teased so much, I thought I would be made fun of. But now, I am actually trying to get into the dating scene."
Jordan's new confidence has already contributed to his career path very significantly. Recently, he was accepted into a program for the Newport News shipyard, where he will be helping them design submarines and aircraft carriers.
"If I didn't have the device, I never would have done the interview for the program. I had to interview and had to talk to quite a bit of people to get the information for it and actually apply for it. I don't' think I would be in this program if it wasn't for the device."
Jordan's advice for someone considering the device is: "GET IT! Get it and use it all the time. Get it and use it as much as you possibly can. It is Definitely worth the money," he said.
"I would not say it was a cure, because if you want to cure yourself, you have to train yourself to talk normal no matter what. You still have the speech impediment - the SpeechEasy is more of an aid - it treats it but it is not going to cure it. The only way you are going to cure it is if you want to. The person wearing it is going to have to make an effort talking without it in at times."
His advice is that anyone considering a purchase should go to the SpeechEasy website (www.speecheasy.com), and view the online chat forum where people extensively discuss the device. His ultimate recommendation, however, is based on his results.
"And I guess one thing I would say to them is if you tried everything else, what do you have to lose? I mean, what is more important to you: $5000 or having the ability to talk normal for the rest of your life? And I would safely say being able to talk normal is worth more than any price imaginable."
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, how does Jordan rate his experience with his device? His answer is, "Two thousand, three hundred and fourteen point one!!" And that is a direct quote.
Note: Jordan was interviewed for this article via telephone for 45 minutes while wearing his SpeechEasy device. He was 100% fluent during the entire call.
|
|
|