Awareness training and regulated-breathing method in modification of stuttering

Awareness has been shown to be an important variable in various types of learning in humans. Its role in the modification of different clinical disorders is promising. It is hypothesized that systemic awareness training prior to the introduction of regulated-breathing method would significantly improve fluency in stutterers. 16 stutterers (mean age 25.1 yr.) were randomly assigned to one of two groups, awareness training plus regulated-breathing method or regulated-breathing method only. All clients were seen individually during two 90-min. sessions and were informed that their speech was being recorded. The percentage of stuttering and the rate of speech were analyzed. Awareness training significantly reduced stuttering compared to a control procedure. But the most significant improvement appeared after the introduction of the regulated-breathing method. At a 1-mo. follow-up, although the frequency of stuttering was significantly less than during baseline, the level of disfluency was around 5%. From a clinical perspective, such results are far from satisfactory and no further follow-ups were conducted. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed to improve the efficacy of our therapeutic methods used to counteract stuttering.