A component analysis of awareness training for reducing speech disfluencies

Abstract

Recent literature supports using an awareness training treatment package to decrease speech disfluencies for college students delivering short speeches. This package includes identifying speech disfluencies first via a video recording (video training), then during in vivo speech practice (in vivo training). However, the literature lacks an evaluation of these subcomponents, which poses a barrier to better understanding the efficiency, social validity, and potential underlying behavioral principles of awareness training. We conducted an add-in component analysis with 8 college students by implementing either video or in vivo training first, evaluating treatment effects via a posttest, then implementing the remaining subcomponent, if warranted. We found that in vivo speech practice may be sufficient for reducing disfluencies for some participants, but a treatment package including the sequential application of both video and in vivo training is more likely to result in marked behavior change.

Decreasing nervous habits during public speaking: A component analysis of awareness training

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Awareness training can produce decreases in nervous habits during public speaking. A systematic replication of Montes et al (2020) was conducted to evaluate the independent and additive effects of awareness training components (i.e., response description, response detection) on speech disfluencies during public speaking. We extended prior research by evaluating response description alone, delivering the intervention virtually, using novel videos and speech topics during training, and measuring collateral effects on untargeted responses and speech rate.

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Using brief habit reversal and an interdependent group contingency to reducepublic‐speakingspeech disfluencies

“…Collectively, these procedures may have reduced discrimination and subsequent acquisition of stimulus control during BHR. Montes et al (2021) demonstrated that review of recorded speeches, though beneficial, is not necessary to reduce speech disfluencies, suggesting the importance of the description and examples of speech disfluencies. In addition to issues with stimulus control, reductions in speech disfluencies resulted in fewer opportunities for the occurrence of response identification.…”

“…Furthermore, PSA has been found to impact success in both educational and employment settings (e.g., Stein et al, 1996). Given both the importance of public speaking and the prevalence of PSA, several recent studies have evaluated interventions to reduce such speech disfluencies (Mancuso & Miltenberger, 2016;Montes et al, 2019Montes et al, , 2021Pawlik & Perrin, 2020;Spieler & Miltenberger, 2017). As speech disfluencies during public speaking have many commonalities with other habit behaviors, this research consists of applications of brief habit reversal (BHR).…”

“…During competing response training, participants are taught to emit an often-incompatible response as a replacement behavior and then practice emitting the competing response while delivering speeches. Previous studies have shown BHR to be effective at reducing public-speaking speech disfluencies when it consists of awareness training and competing response training (Mancuso & Miltenberger, 2016), awareness training and an instructed, as opposed to trained, competing response (Pawlik & Perrin, 2020), and awareness training alone (e.g., Montes et al, 2019Montes et al, , 2021Spieler & Miltenberger, 2017).…”

The Will Club for Stuttering and Modus Operandi of Training Adult Persons Who Stutter: A Descriptive Analysis, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…Lack of understanding and awareness of the environment for stuttering, and therefore help the PWS in an unhealthy way, such as when they complete the talk and others comment irrationally. Vivo recording speech training (awareness) is better than video recording training of persons who stutter but both combined result in further improvement in speech disfluency disorders [32]. In addition, the people around them rush the result on the person.…”