Stuttering in the First Years of Life

This videotape lasts 16 minutes and was produced in 1991 by the Cumberland Stuttering Research and Treatment Centre, Cumberland College of Health Sciences, University of Sydney. It is essentially a video for parents, encouraging them to seek early diagnosis and intervention from a speech pathologist if they suspect their child has fluency problems.

This is a colourful, lively presentation with the recurring theme being the importance of early intervention. The commentary is provided by Mark Onslow who presents information the development of stuttering and its symptoms in a clear, unambiguous way. However, one of the points which he stresses is that "Stuttering is a physical, not an emotional problem". He goes on to say that it is not caused by "bad parenting practices", a point with which most speech and language therapists in this country would agree.

Nevertheless, his assertion that stuttering is a physical problem must be open to question. It does, however, relate to the treatment approach advocated here. in this video all children were being taught practise 'stutter free' speech, using behaviourist principles and there did not appear to be any additional management strategies. e.g. modification of parental interaction style.

The tape is well edited with short snippets of the children talking, playing, parents' views and speech pathologists' comments. The speech pathologists all speak very positively of the merits of this approach with one claiming that every preschooler had 'successfully' completed the programme and proceeded to 'maintenance'.

In this approach parents are trained to be their own child's therapist and all parents interviewed showed a high regard for this type of management. Some parents also comment on the psychological changes in their children pre- and post-therapy e.g. the child is less shy, more confident and participates more in activities with other children.

This tape is well presented and though not heavy in content would certainly fulfil its aim of encouraging parents to seek early diagnosis and intervention.

Reviewed in the Spring 1995 issue of 'Speaking Out' by Roberta Lees MSc MCSLT, Programme Co-ordinator, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

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