Adding "Out with it: ... stutter" book review post

_posts/2021-05-08-speech-devices-stammer.md

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ The speech recognizer used by default in [Webchat][] (and many other speech user
 
 However, as soon as you're answering open-ended questions, or have a stammer/stutter or other dis-fluency, then it soon breaks down, and the Chat-bot cuts you off mid-response. I characterize that as _impatient_!
 
-Our answer was to develop an alternative, adaptive speech recognizer, built on Microsoft's [cognitive speech][] SDK. This was configured with a longer timeout for the open-ended questions in our Chat-bot's dialog, while recognizing and responding more quickly to the shorter closed responses like “_yes_“, “_no_“ and “_move on_“.
+Our answer was to develop an [alternative, adaptive speech recognizer][pasr], built on Microsoft's [cognitive speech][] SDK. This was configured with a longer timeout for the open-ended questions in our Chat-bot's dialog, while recognizing and responding more quickly to the shorter closed responses like “_yes_“, “_no_“ and “_move on_“.
 
 After some experimentation, we settled on a timeout of _1.75 seconds_ (a compromise between everyone's needs), and the adaptive speech recognizer was used successfully during the main trial for ADMINS. Always at the back of my mind was the question — could the speech recognizer adapt to the _speaker_, not just to the conversation?
 
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ See [research papers on ORO][oro], [Microsoft][ms] and [OU research news][ou-1].
   "Microsoft's Bot Framework Web Chat component, on GitHub."
 [cognitive speech]: https://github.com/Microsoft/cognitive-services-speech-sdk-js
   "Microsoft Cognitive Services Speech SDK for JavaScript, on GitHub."
+[pasr]: https://github.com/nfreear/dictation.git
+  "Patient, Adaptive Speech Recognizer, on GitHub [MIT License]"
 [twit-survey]: https://twitter.com/nfreear/status/1385986720928260096
   "“To all who #stutter/#stammer/have a disfluency from a stammerer- I'm interested in how speech-enabled Chatbots Alexa Siri & automated phone systems impact you. I'd love your responses to these Qs…”, tweet by @nfreear, 24-April-2021"
 [wcag]: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/

_posts/2024-01-28-out-with-it-stutter-book-review.md

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+---
+published: true
+layout: post
+title:  Out with it: How stuttering helped me find my voice
+date:   2024-01-28 19:00:00
+tags:   stammer book review
+og-desc: A short description
+og-image-00: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91UjuBTh2ML._SY522_.jpg
+og-image-alt: Out with it: How stuttering helped me find my voice, by Katherine Preston.
+
+last_updated: 2024-01-28
+changefreq: daily
+priority: 1.0
+---
+
+[![Out with it book, published by Simon & Schuster][cover-image]][pub]
+
+I’ve just finished reading [Out with it: How stuttering helped me find my voice][pub], by [Katherine Preston][kp]. And, I loved it!
+
+It’s not a new book, but it has aged well, and feels relevant to me today.
+
+_Out with it_ is a memoir, that starts in the author’s childhood, growing up in suburban England, and ends after she completes a road trip across the United States, interviewing people who stammer/stutter, speech therapists and researchers.
+
+Katherine explores her childhood and teenage years, searching for an elusive "cure". During the second part of the book she gradually comes to accept her stutter and finds a way to live with it.
+
+She meets lots of famous and everyday people along the way, and quotes liberally from her interviews.
+
+In the author's journey I see echoes of my own. My formative experience was group speech therapy at the age of 20, at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. The speech therapy was based on the work of [Van Riper][], [Sheehan][] and others. It used a 4-step process:
+
+1. Identification,
+2. Open and voluntary stuttering,
+3. Desensitization,
+4. Acceptance.
+
+Therapy was tough and lasted an intense 5 months, but with the support of the other young people in the group, ultimately successful in allowing me to accept and reduce my avoidance of stammering.
+
+I heartily recomend Katherine’s book!
+
+[pub]: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Out-With-It/Katherine-Preston/9781451676594
+[kp]: http://katherinepreston.com/
+[wp]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Preston
+[arch]: https://archive.org/details/outwithithowstut0000pres
+  "Out with it : how stuttering helped me find my voice, on Archive.org"
+[gr]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15803013-out-with-it
+[amazon]: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Stuttering-Helped-Find-Voice/dp/1451676581
+[cover-image]: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91UjuBTh2ML._SY522_.jpg
+[van riper]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Van_Riper
+[sheehan]: https://www.stutteringhelp.org/message-stutterer
+  "Message to a Stutterer, by Joseph Sheehan"
+[arts]: https://www.sisskinstutteringcenter.com/articles/arts-therapy-overview
+  "Avoidance Reduction Therapy for Stuttering (ARTS®): An Overview"
+
+---