One of the more recent posts in Norwegian here on the blog was about Hilda Sønsterud’s Ph.D. project titled “What works for whom”. Way back in March we planned to make a post on an open seminar that was hosted by the Departement of Psychology and the Department of Special Needs Education at the University of Oslo in conjunction with the public defense for Dr. Sønsterud’s doctoral dissertation. The members of the scientific committee were invited to present their own research under the heading “Individualization of stuttering treatment” to a wider audience of speech language pathologists, students and other clinicians interested in stuttering.
The topic of the seminar is still highly relevant, and we decided that it was about time to pull this text out of the file archive.
The first presenter was Clinical
researcher Dr. Marie-Christine Franken. The title of her talk was “The long-term
outcomes of the RESTART trial”. Dr. Franken started out by talking about the
design of the randomized comparative study.18 months post treatment the
researchers found comparable effects of the Lidcombe program (LP) and the
RESTART Demands and Capacities Model based treatment (DCM) for preschool
children who stutter. Results from the trial have been published and are
available here. Dr.
Franken went on to share some of the preliminary data 5 years post treatment.
These outcomes are based on self-reports of stuttering severity from children
(N=100) and parents (N=127), as well as ratings of satisfaction with
communication in everyday speaking situations from both groups. Analysis were
still being carried out and did not include evaluations of speech samples by
the researchers at the time. The preliminary results suggested, however, that
the outcomes between LP and DCM are still comparable at 5 years post treatment.
Fortunately, we can look forward to future publications on long term effects
from the research group.
Dr. Marie-Christine Franken
Next presenter was Professor Glen Tellis who gave
a talk on the topic “Fluency therapy ideas for 21st century clinicians. Apps,
Social Networking, and Teletherapy”, based on his own and his former
Ph.D-student Erik X. Raj’s work. With illustrative videos from teletherapy, Dr.
Tellis showed how different apps that provide us with pictures, audio, memes
and emojis can be incorporated into more traditional stuttering therapy for
school aged children. He gave strong arguments for using humor and to make use
of platforms that children enjoy, when working with affective, behavioral and
cognitive components of stuttering. How do you imagine you would feel if you
met an alien version of yourself on the street? Would you be nervous, or scared
maybe? Together you can explore if there are other situations where you have
felt nervous, scared etc. Maybe you can remember a situation where stuttering
has made you feel like this? Moreover, consider that the alien comes from a
planet where everyone stutters. What would his talking sound like, and what
symbols would they have for different stuttering types, like blocks and
repetitions on this planet? These are just a few of the creative suggestions
for activities Dr. Tellis shared and where visual and audio material play a key
role. Norwegian readers can also find some tips and information on this topic
at Statped.no here. 
Professor Glen Tellis
Finally, Dr. Hilda Sønsterud reflected upon the topic “Individualized stuttering therapy - what matters the most”. She highlighted the need for, and importance of, clinical research on stuttering therapy for adults that lead to personally significant changes for the participants. The core focus of Hilda’s Multimodal stuttering therapy (MIST) has been “minding the body in speech”. Participants have been practicing one or a few, strategies they have found helpful in clinic outside the therapy room. Strategies have been tailored to meet individual needs.
From the right: Dr. Hilda Sønsterud and organizer of the seminar, Melanie Kirmess
We thank all presenters for their time and contribution to make this seminar a success.
For the EST-team, Ane Hestmann Melle
thanks
SvarSlett