Predictors of Lidcombe Program treatment dropout and outcome for early stuttering

Abstract

Background: Information is available about what predicts Lidcombe Program treatment time, but nothing is known about what predicts treatment prognosis. Aims: To investigate the predictors of treatment dropout and treatment outcome for children who were treated for early stuttering with the Lidcombe Program (N = 277). Methods & Procedures: A total of 32 variables were used as predictors in regression analyses of short-and mediumterm Lidcombe Program outcome, and of treatment dropout. Outcomes & Results: Regression analyses associated children who have better language skills and easy temperament with better treatment outcome, although only a small portion of the variance of treatment outcome was accounted for by these variables. There was an association between treatment dropout and parental scores on a personality screening tool relating to their impulsivity. Conclusions & Implications: Variables identified as predictors of Lidcombe Program treatment outcome were statistically significant, but not clinically significant. They did not account for a clinically substantive portion of treatment outcomes. Findings about parental impulsivity and their relationship with intervention drop-out require replication with prospective methods and comprehensive assessment of parent psychological status. This is particularly important because parents are involved in conducting all early interventions.

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

“…Family attributes were family lifestyle, ability to steer a conversation with the PCWS, playing habits, the parent who is implementing the treatment stutters, having relatives who stutter, having a learning disorder or difficulties to understand the treatment approach as reported by the SLP, parental feelings of anxiety or depression, troublesome relationship with the PCWS, and a divorced family situation. These attributes were mentioned either as challenges [33], as obstacles or benefits [45], or were reported in association with stuttering recovery [51][52][53], treatment duration or treatment outcome [42][43][44]46], or drop-out [44]. When relevant, a secondary question about how the attribute affected the decision followed.…”

“…They are associated with the Lidcombe Program, but they may as well apply to other treatment approaches. Recently, Park et al [55] found that parent impulsivity was related to increased drop-out when delivering the Lidcombe Program. Furthermore, they found that higher CELF-core scores were associated with better treatment outcome at 6 to 9 months and easier temperament with better treatment outcome at 12 to 18 months.…”

“…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] .…”