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Purpose: This clinical trial determined the outcomes of a simple syllable-timed speech (STS) treatment for school-age children who stutter.
Method: Participants were 10 children, ages 6-11 years, who stutter. Treatment involved training the children and their parents to use STS at near normal speech rates. The technique was practiced in the clinic and at home with the parents during everyday conversations.
Results: Nine months after commencing treatment, stuttering had decreased by >50% for half of the children, with 2 children attaining 81% and 87% reduction. Intention-to-treat analysis showed a clinically and statistically significant reduction in stuttering for the group even when a withdrawn participant was included. These results were mostly confirmed by self-reported stuttering severity ratings and were supported by improved situation avoidance and quality-of-life scores. There was considerable individual variation in response to the treatment.
Conclusion: STS shows promise as a treatment for some schoolage children who stutter. As a fluency technique, it is simple to learn and simple to teach, and the children in this study appeared to enjoy the treatment. The efficacy of the treatment could likely be improved with modifications.
Key Words: children, stuttering, syllable-timed speech, clinical trial
It is commonly accepted that as children move through the school-age years, the chance of natural recovery from stuttering diminishes significantly, and the disorder becomes less tractable. Moreover, if stuttering persists for 6- to 12-year-old children, they are at risk of experiencing teasing and bullying and developing self-esteem issues (Blood & Blood, 2007), with >80% of children who stutter (CWS) being bullied during their time in primary school (Ezrati-Vinacour, Platzky,&Yairi, 2001). CWS are perceived negatively by their nonstuttering peers, are rejected more often, and have more difficulty establishing peer relationships than children who do not stutter. Six and 7-year-oldCWS tend to have negative attitudes toward speech and communication, and this worsens progressively during the school years (Ezrati- Vinacour et al., 2001). There is evidence that CWS may experience negative peer reactions even earlier than this, as young as 4 years of age (Langevin, Packman, & Onslow, 2009).
These problems can obviously have long-term effects. As CWS grow into adolescence and adulthood, it is common for them to continue to experience negative listener reactions (Peters & Starkweather, 1989; Snyder, 2001), potentially impacting their...