Intensive non-avoidance group therapy with stutterer adults: preliminary results

Area of Science:

• Speech and Language Pathology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Stuttering affects adults globally, impacting communication and quality of life.
• Non-avoidance strategies are increasingly recognized for stuttering modification.

Purpose of the Study:

• Evaluate the efficacy of intensive non-avoidance group treatment for Bulgarian adults who stutter (AWS).
• Assess the adoption of speech changes across different situations.
• Determine the long-term maintenance of treatment gains.

Main Methods:

• A group of 15 Bulgarian adults who stutter (AWS) participated in intensive non-avoidance treatment.
• The treatment utilized Van Riper's stuttering modification approach, focusing on non-avoidance techniques.
• Participants underwent two stages of treatment, with progress assessed during and after therapy.

Main Results:

• Significant reduction in the number of stuttered utterances and duration of disfluencies was observed post-treatment.
• Improvements were consistent across participants with moderate and severe stuttering.
• High percentages of AWS successfully utilized techniques like cancellation and preparatory sets long-term.

Conclusions:

• Intensive non-avoidance treatment is effective for Bulgarian adults who stutter.
• The therapy leads to measurable improvements in fluency, specifically in disfluency duration and index.
• Positive changes in speech are maintained after the intensive therapy program.