Challenges and Strategies for Speech-Language Pathologists Using the Lidcombe Program for Early Stuttering

Abstract

Purpose The Lidcombe program is a treatment for preschool-age children who stutter. Studies indicate that its implementation is not always straightforward. In this study, challenges that parents and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) encounter when implementing the Lidcombe program were identified, and strategies to address them were sought. Method In Part 1, Lidcombe program treatment challenges were determined from 4 sources. In Part 2, 7 SLPs with 15 to 23 years of Lidcombe program experience were interviewed to develop strategies to respond to the identified treatment challenges. Result A template of the themes and a report with possible strategies are the outcomes of this study. A total of 124 themes were identified, mostly related to the implementation of Lidcombe program procedures. Strategies to deal with these challenges were formulated. Conclusions This study provides treatment challenges that parents or SLPs may encounter during the Lidcombe program. It also provides strategies that SLPs can suggest to address them. An added contribution of the findings is that SLPs in the clinic can now anticipate the sort of treatment challenges that parents may face. A summary of the findings will be made available on the Australian Stuttering Research Centre website and through the Lidcombe Program Trainers Consortium.

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

“…The scientific beauty of this course preceded by a comprehensive slide presentation is that this course has well defined vision and mission, values and goals [2] and rightly authenticated by trainees in terms of their success stories [38]. The PWS face a variety of challenges linked with worsening stuttering [43] were very well addressed individually and various techniques that help resolve stuttering were highlighted and the participants were guided to practice at home with family, friends, the Will Club Members and others. Some of the same challenges associated with stuttering were also discussed during addressing various methods, stages/phases of treatment possibly may have further consolidated the memory and knowledge of the participants for correctly practicing these techniques but this training perspective gave a sense of repetition of ideas scattered throughout this paper.…”

Attributes That Affect the Choice of Treatment for Preschool Age Children Who Stutter: An Observational Study

“…None of these, however, are conclusive to predict treatment duration or ease of treatment implementation for a PCWS; that is, they do not apply to all PCWS. Goodhue et al [27] and Van Eerdenbrugh et al [37] reported child and family challenges such as PCWS with a (twin) sibling who stutters, perfectionist or sensitive PCWS, a family's busy lifestyle, parents with a learning disorder, weaker intellectual capabilities, feelings of anxiety, a depression, a troublesome relationship with their PCWS, a parent who is stuttering or a divorced family situation. It is important to realize however, that Van Eerdenbrugh et al…”

“…Family attributes were lifestyle of a family, ability to steer a conversation with the PCWS, playing habits, stuttering of the parent who is implementing the treatment, stuttering of someone in the family, learning disorder, weaker intellectual capabilities, feelings of anxiety, depression, troublesome relationship with the PCWS and a divorced family situation. These attributes were mentioned either as challenges [37] , as obstacles or benefits [27] , or were reported in association with stuttering recovery [e.g., 60, 61, 62] , treatment duration or treatment outcome [e.g., 52,53,54,55] or drop-out [e.g. , 54] .…”

“…It has been trialed in other formats than the clinic-based format such as group format [30] , webcam format [31] and formats with less verbal contingencies than standard [e.g., 32] . Besides this, the implementation of the Lidcombe Program has been investigated with several foci such as the relationship between parent and PCWS [33] , the speech and language of the parent and child [34] , the phonological development of the child [35] , Lidcombe Program experiences of parents [27,36] and challenges of parents and SLPs when delivering or implementing the Lidcombe Program [37] . These studies were preceded by studies about validating the stuttering severity rating scale used in the Lidcombe Program [e.g., 38,39] .…”

The Lidcombe Program for Early Stuttering in Non-English-Speaking Countries: A Systematic Review

“…Currently, there are no qualitative studies investigating the implementation process by parents and children according to the results of this review. However, the fact that a qualitative investiga-tion in Australia revealed a number of challenges faced by speech and language therapists and parents [49] suggests possible challenges implementing the Lidcombe Program in non-native English-speaking countries, underscoring the need for more qualitative explorations outside of native English-speaking countries.…”