Differing perspectives on what to do with a stuttering preschooler and why

In order to produce a compact and readable overview of clinical issues for clinicians, the authors developed a "1,000-bites" format in which they discuss a topic initiated by one of the authors.

The format is designed to give the reader the feeling of contemporaneous observation of a conversation between 2 authors. To that end, the format guidelines are as follows: (a) alternating responses from the authors with no response greater than 100 words; (b) a maximum of 1,000 words per author; (c) when one author has used 1,000 words, the other can complete 1,000 words in a final response or opt to not issue a final response; (d) debate may be controversial and vigorous but must be collegial; and (e) a noncontemporaneous edit by an author to a response requires the agreement of the other author.

The "1,000-bites" format achieved a collegial exchange between 2 discussants with differing opinions by creating a single work of shared authorship by them. Arguably, this format is more informative to clinicians than independent essays and rebuttals in a sequence of letters to the editor. One of its advantages is that it provides insights into the issue at stake by means of short and contemporaneous segments of spontaneous interaction.