Norwegian speech pathologists’ treatment
of young children who stutter
In
June, Ane, Karoline and Kari-Anne and Linn published an article concerning
Norwegian speech language pathologists’ (SLPs) treatment of young children (age 2-6) who
stutter in the Norwegian journal Norsk
tidsskrift for logopedi. Also, with the permission from the journal, the
article was reprinted on the web page Utdanningsforskning.no. This blog post is
a summary of the paper.
The majority of children
who stutter will recover within school-age (Kefalianos et al., 2017; Månsson,
2000), however, few experience natural recovery within the first year after
onset (Reilly m. fl., 2013). At present we are not able to predict who will
experience natural recovery and who will persist to stutter and when natural
recovery will occur (Clark, Tumanova, & Choi, 2017). Studies have shown
treatment to be more efficacious in reducing stuttering in young children than
no treatment (Harris, Onslow, Packman, Harrison, &
Menzies, 2002; Lattermann, Euler, & Neumann, 2008). Given the abovementioned, treatment in young
children is recommended. However, in Norway there are no national guidelines
concerning stuttering treatment for young children.
Our
study aimed at investigating how speech language pathologists in Norway treat
young children who stutter. An electronic survey was carried out after approval
by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data. Four main questions were asked in
the survey. These concerned what kind of treatment approach SLPs used in
treatment of young children who stutter (direct/ indirect/ a combination of
direct and indirect/ other treatment), how often the different treatment
approaches were given, the most often used indirect treatment (Palin PRS,
Restart DCM, own developed of indirect direct strategies, other) and direct
treatment (Westmead, Lidcombe program, fluency shaping techniques, stuttering
modification techniques, other).
117
SLPs responded to the survey. The results indicate that the majority of SLPs use
indirect treatment with young children who stutter. More specifically, the SLP’s
own developed combination of different indirect strategies is used by most. Few
report using indirect treatment programs such as Palin PCI (N=8) and Restart
DCM (N=11) and direct treatment programs such as the Lidcombe program (N=2) and
Westmead (N=0) most often. In summary, the results from our study highlight a
discrepancy between the Norwegian SLPs practice and research evidence. Since
there is no evidence for the treatment that is given most often by the majority
of SLPs in the survey, future studies should target the effect of this
treatment. Furthermore, to ensure efficacious treatment for young children who
stutter in Norway, guidelines of stuttering treatment together with training in
efficacious treatment programs should be implemented in Norwegian speech
clinics.
References
Clark, C. E., Tumanova, V., & Choi, D. J. P. o. t. A. S. I. G.
(2017). Evidence-Based Multifactorial Assessment of Preschool-Age Children Who
Stutter. 2(4), 4-27.
Guttormsen, L.S., Melle, A.H., Hoff, K., & Næss, K-A.N (2019). Stammebehandling
av barnehagebarn: norske logopeders praksis. Norsk tidsskrift for logopedi, 2,
6-13.
Harris, V., Onslow, M., Packman, A., Harrison, E., & Menzies, R.
(2002). An experimental investigation of the impact of the Lidcombe Program on
early stuttering. Journal of fluency
disorders, 27(3), 203-214. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0094-730X(02)00127-4
Kefalianos, E., Onslow, M., Packman, A., Vogel, A., Pezic, A.,
Mensah, F., . . . Reilly, S. (2017). The History of Stuttering by 7 Years of
Age: Follow-Up of a Prospective Community Cohort. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 60(10),
2828-2839. doi:10.1044/2017_JSLHR-S-16-0205
Lattermann, C., Euler, H. A.,
& Neumann, K. (2008). A randomized control trial to investigate the impact
of the Lidcombe Program on early stuttering in German-speaking preschoolers. Journal of fluency disorders, 33(1),
52-65. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfludis.2007.12.002
Månsson, H. (2000). Childhood stuttering: Incidence and development.
Journal of fluency disorders, 25(1),
47-57. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0094-730X(99)00023-6
Reilly, S., Onslow, M., Packman, A., Cini, E., Conway, L.,
Ukoumunne, O. C., . . . Block, S. (2013). Natural history of stuttering to 4
years of age: a prospective community-based study. Pediatrics, 132(3), 460-467. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2012-3067
