Stuttering treatment for a school-age child with Down syndrome: a descriptive case report

Little is known about optimal treatment approaches and stuttering treatment outcomes for children with Down syndrome.

The purpose of this study was to investigate outcomes for a child with Down syndrome who received a combination of fluency shaping therapy and parent delivered contingencies for normally fluent speech, prolonged speech, and stuttered speech.

In-clinic speech measures obtained at post-treatment and at 4 months follow-up reflected improvements in fluency of 89.0% and 98.6%, respectively. The participant's beyond-clinic follow-up sample reflected an improvement of 95.5%. Following treatment, the participant demonstrated improved self-confidence, self-esteem, and improved participation and functioning at school.

Findings suggest that fluency shaping with parental contingencies may be a viable treatment approach to reduce stuttering in children with Down syndrome. Future research using an experimental research design is warranted.

Readers will be able to describe (a) prevalence estimates of stuttering in individuals with Down syndrome, (b) the main components of a fluency shaping program for a child with Down syndrome who stutters and has co-occurring speech and language delays, and (c) speech and parent-, teacher-, and self-report treatment outcomes.