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Reliability of clinicians' judgments about prolonged-speech targets
1Australian Stuttering Research Centre, The University of Sydney, NSW. m.onslow@cchs.usyd
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR
|October 15, 1998
Summary
Clinicians showed poor agreement in identifying speech errors during stuttering treatment. This challenges the reliability of prolonged-speech therapy despite its known effectiveness in managing stuttered speech.
Area of Science:
- Speech-Language Pathology
- Clinical Linguistics
- Communication Sciences
Background:
- Prolonged-speech procedures, based on Goldiamond's methods, teach specific speech skills like gentle onsets for stuttering treatment.
- Effective learning of these skills relies on clinicians accurately identifying deviations from target speech patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the reliability of clinicians in detecting speech production errors during prolonged-speech therapy for stuttering.
Main Methods:
- Investigated intraclinician and interclinician agreement on error identification.
- Focused on speech skills such as soft contacts, gentle onsets, and continuous vocalization.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated questionable intraclinician agreement (agreement within a single clinician over time).
- Revealed poor interclinician agreement (agreement between different clinicians).
Conclusions:
- Despite reliability issues in error detection, the prolonged-speech program remains effective for controlling stuttered speech.
- Findings highlight the need to address clinician agreement for improved treatment consistency and theoretical understanding.