How effective is the Lidcombe Program with school-age children? A phase 1 trial
Presenters: Dr Isabelle Rousseau, Dr Ann Packman, Dr Mark Onslow: The Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney
By Kate Williams, Sheffield speech and language therapy agency

Dr Onslow presented the phase one trial results on the effectiveness of the Lidcombe Program with eight school age children (aged 7-12 years) and their parents. Most referrals had originated from parents who were concerned about their child's stuttering.

Outcome Measures based on the percentage of syllables stuttered (%SS)

Three assessments were carried out prior to the start of treatment, then immediately after stage one, and at 6, 12, and 24 months after stage one.

Video and audio recordings were made in the clinic and audio recordings of two 10 minute conversations were made beyond the clinic.

On-line measures of %SS were made by independent observers. Samples were presented randomly. Standard benchmarks for interjudge and intrajudge reliability were met.

Clinical Progress

All children were treated strictly in accordance with the treatment manual. Three of the eight children completed stage one. Five did not. Of the three children who completed stage one and moved to stage two, only one completed stage two.

Discussion

There are few therapists who would dispute Dr Onslow's view that "there is a pressing need for the development of treatments for school-age children who stutter aged 7-12 years". However, to indicate in such bold terms that: "present results provide empirical confirmation of its (the Lidcombe Program) value as a first treatment choice with this age group," feels to this therapist to be a somewhat premature statement based on the size of the cohort investigated and results obtained.

It was acknowledged that the school age children involved in the study had more difficulty maintaining treatment gains than pre-school children and that one of the children who moved to stage two of the program failed on five occasions to meet the program speech criteria and was moved back to stage one after 78 weeks. Treatment was then discontinued because of parental compliance problems. Dr Onslow said that expectations of success can be less straightforward than with pre-school children, for whom the program was developed.

I would have been interested to know what efforts were made to understand the views of the children participating in the treatment/study; unfortunately there was no time for questions to get a better understanding of the effectiveness of Lidcombe with school age children. That said, I think that there may be potential for its use with school age children and I look forward to further evidence becoming available.

From the Autumn 2005 edition of Speaking Out

See also: Lidcombe Programme index page