Long-term outcome of the Lidcombe Program for early stuttering intervention

To report long-term outcomes of the first 15 preschool children treated with the Lidcombe Program by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who were inexperienced with the program and independent of the program developers. Research questions were: Would the treatment have a similar outcome with inexperienced SLPs compared to outcomes when implemented by the developers? Is treatment duration associated with pretreatment measures? Is long-term treatment outcome affected by variables associated with natural recovery?

Fifteen preschool children who completed the Lidcombe Program were assessed prior to treatment and at least 12 months following treatment. Pretreatment data were obtained from archived files; follow-up data were obtained from interviews and recordings completed after the study had been planned.

Measures of stuttering indicated significant changes from pretreatment to follow-up in percentage of syllables stuttered and scores on the Stuttering Severity Instrument, Third Edition. Pretreatment severity was significantly correlated with treatment time. Handedness was the only client characteristic that appeared to be related to long-term treatment outcome.

The treatment produced significant long-term changes in children's speech, even when administered by SLPs newly trained in the Lidcombe Program. Treatment results appear to be influenced by pretreatment stuttering severity.