Palin Parent Child Interaction and the Lidcombe Program: clarifying some issues

The authors used the "1000-bites" format (Onslow & Yaruss, 2007) to discuss two therapies used with preschool children who stutter: Palin Parent Child Interaction and the Lidcombe Program. The aim is to provide background to the therapies and to explore the differences and similarities between the approaches and research plans for them.

The format is designed to give the reader the feeling of contemporaneous observation of conversation between the authors. To that end, the format guidelines are as follows: (1) alternating responses from two authors with no response greater than 100 words, (2) a maximum of 1000 words per author, (3) when one author has used 1000 words the other may complete 1000 words in a final response or opt to not issue a final response, (4) debate may be controversial and vigorous but must be collegial, and (5) a non-contemporaneous edit by an author to a response requires the agreement of the other author.

The "1000-bites" format achieved a collegial exchange between two discussants with differing opinions by creating a single work of shared authorship. 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.

At the end of this activity the reader will be able to (1) outline the different theoretical backgrounds of Palin Parent Child Interaction Therapy and the Lidcombe Program, (2) describe the different goals of the two treatments, (3) contrast the different methods for the two treatments, and (4) explain any commonalities between the two treatments.