Effective Stuttering Treatment (EST)

Stuttering is a communication disorder that affects more than one in every ten children by 4 years of age. Although many children recover naturally from stuttering, up to 35% of children develop persistent stuttering. Children who stutter can develop adverse cognitive, behavioral and emotional reactions to stuttering close to the onset of the disorder. Effective treatment is therefore critical to minimise a child's risk of developing persistent stuttering as well as the development of adverse reactions. The effectiveness of existing stuttering treatments for young children has not been systematically reviewed. There is also limited knowledge about how existing treatments work. Current treatments are comprised of multiple components. It is unknown however what role (if any) each component plays in reducing stuttering. The EST projects main aim is to develop and trial a stuttering treatment for young children. To inform the development of this new treatment we have conducted a suite of sub studies; a Cochrane review of existing international treatment trials, a qualitative content analysis of the individual components of existing stuttering treatment programs and a systematic review of the implementation quality of existing clinical trials of stuttering treatments. We have also developed and administered a survey to public health nurses, kindergarten teachers and speech language pathologists in Norway exploring their management practices with young children who stutter. These sub studies, together with the outcomes from our trial, will contribute to addressing the objective of the EST project which is to improve knowledge of effective stuttering treatments for young children worldwide. The novel stuttering treatment program have been evaluated in a multiple single case study with five kindergarten children who stutter. Based on the results of this multiple single case study and complementary data that we are collecting from interviews with the parents of participating children about their expectations pre-treatment the program was refined and will be trialed in a new single case study taking power into consideration.

Stuttering is a communication disorder that affects more than one in every ten children by 4 years of age. Although many children recover naturally from stuttering, up to 35% of children develop persistent stuttering. Children who stutter can develop adverse cognitive, behavioral and emotional reactions to stuttering close to the onset of the disorder. Effective treatment is therefore critical to minimise a child's risk of developing persistent stuttering as well as the development of adverse reactions. The effectiveness of existing stuttering treatments for young children has not been systematically reviewed. There is also limited knowledge about how existing treatments work. Current treatments are comprised of multiple components. It is unknown however what role (if any) each component plays in reducing stuttering. The EST projects main aim is to develop and trial a stuttering treatment for young children. To inform the development of this new treatment we have conducted a suite of sub studies; a Cochrane review of existing international treatment trials, a qualitative content analysis of the individual components of existing stuttering treatment programs and a systematic review of the implementation quality of existing clinical trials of stuttering treatments. We have also developed and administered a survey to public health nurses, kindergarten teachers and speech language pathologists in Norway exploring their management practices with young children who stutter. These sub studies, together with the outcomes from a phase II trial of the new program, will contribute to addressing the objective of the EST project which is to improve knowledge of effective stuttering treatments for young children worldwide. The novel stuttering treatment program have been evaluated in a phase I trial with five kindergarten children who stutter. Based on the results of this study and complementary data that we collected from interviews with the parents of participating children about their expectations pre-treatment we have refined the program and proceed to recruitment for a phase II trial. Outcomes from this experimental study will be disseminated to childhood educators, health professionals and any other professionals involved in the care of young children who stutter. Working towards a consistent and unified management approach across all early childhood professionals who work with young children who stutter will enhance our ability to minimise each child's likelihood of developing persistent stuttering and the associated negative consequences that can otherwise last for the rest of their lives.