Treating stuttering in young children: predicting treatment time in the Lidcombe Program

Area of Science:

• Speech-language pathology
• Childhood developmental disorders

Background:

• Children may spontaneously recover from stuttering without intervention.
• The optimal timing for early stuttering intervention remains a critical question in speech-language pathology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate factors influencing treatment time for preschool children receiving the Lidcombe Program of early stuttering intervention.
• To determine if age, gender, onset-to-treatment interval, or stuttering severity predict treatment duration.

Main Methods:

• Logistical regression analyses were applied to data from 261 preschool children undergoing the Lidcombe Program.
• Treatment success was defined as achieving zero or near-zero stuttering.
• Data from 250 successfully treated children were analyzed.

Main Results:

• A median of 11 clinic visits was required for successful treatment with the Lidcombe Program.
• Higher stuttering severity was significantly associated with longer treatment times.
• Neither increasing age nor longer intervals from stuttering onset to treatment predicted longer treatment durations.

Conclusions:

• The Lidcombe Program is an effective early intervention for preschool stuttering.
• Stuttering severity is a key factor in predicting treatment length.
• A short delay in initiating treatment in preschool years does not appear to negatively impact treatment time, contrary to some previous findings.