Wolfson Speech-Language Pathologist Receives National Honor

Jacksonville, Florida, July 24, 2009 -- Judy Hammer-Knisely, speech-language pathologist and audiologist with Wolfson Children's Rehabilitation, is among just 26 providers nationwide to be designated as a Premier Provider by Janus Development Group, makers of the SpeechEasy anti-stuttering device.

As a Premier Provider, Hammer-Knisely will participate in a network of professionals sharing their expertise and experience in the treatment of stuttering. They will also be instrumental in the recommendation of improvements to the services offered to clients and other providers by Janus Development Group.

Premier Providers are selected based on merit and client satisfaction. They have demonstrated a willingness to educate people who stutter and their families and work with others to promote community awareness of fluency issues. As licensed and trained speech-language pathologists, they are able to professionally evaluate people who stutter and dispense the SpeechEasy when deemed appropriate.

Hammer-Knisely was the speech-language pathologist for the last three Florida winners of the Sean Anderson Memorial Scholarship Program, which provides free SpeechEasy devices and therapy to Florida children who stutter.

Her work to help people who stutter and to educate the general public about speech disorders and stuttering has included appearances on Discovery Health, as well as ongoing work with the CHORES (Children's Health Organization Relief and Education Services), a medical mission founded in Jacksonville to meet the health care and rehabilitation needs of children who live in Third World conditions on the island nation of Grenada.

For her most recent trip to Grenada, Janus Development Group donated a SpeechEasy device that Hammer-Knisely fitted for a 19-year-old man who had left college and confined himself to his home due to severe stuttering. Since receiving a SpeechEasy, the man has returned to college and is seeking employment.

"It was amazing to watch this young man gain confidence, become more outgoing and social," says Hammer-Knisely. "I knew that the SpeechEasy device was responsible for his first smile in many years."

In addition to treating 75 patients with speech disorders and supplying one SpeechEasy Stuttering Device to the child in Grenada, Hammer-Knisely was also able to fit five children with new hearing aids generously donated by Phonak.

SpeechEasy is a division of Janus Development Group that developed and markets a portable fluency-enhancing device that fits in or behind the ear and can help people who stutter to speak more fluently by recreating a natural phenomenon known as the "choral-effect."

The choral effect occurs when a person's stutter is dramatically reduced or even eliminated when he or she speaks or sings in unison with others. The choral effect has been well documented for decades, but has only recently been scientifically recreated in a small, wearable device that can be used every day. Approximately three out of four people who stutter will benefit from a SpeechEasy fluency device.