The Communication Benefits of Participation in Camp Dream. Speak. Live.: An Extension and Replication

Abstract

School-based guidelines often require that treatment focuses on minimizing or eliminating stuttered speech. The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits of explicit training in communication competencies to children who stutter without targeting stuttered speech. Thirty-seven children (ages 4–16) completed Camp Dream. Speak. Live., an intensive group treatment program which targets the psychosocial needs and communication of children who stutter. Outcome measures included the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES), the Communication Attitude Test for Preschool and Kindergarten Children Who Stutter (KiddyCAT), and the Patient Reported Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Pediatric Peer Relationships Short Form (PROMIS Peer Relationships) and Parent Proxy Peer Relationships Short Form (PROMIS Parent Proxy). Pre- and posttreatment public presentations were rated on nine core verbal and nonverbal communication competencies by a neutral observer. Similar to previous studies, participants demonstrated significant improvements in communication attitudes (OASES) and perceived ability to establish peer relationships (PROMIS Peer Relationships), particularly school-aged participants (ages 7–16). Participants also demonstrated significant improvement in eight of the nine communication competencies. Findings suggest that, in addition to the psychosocial gains of programs such as Camp Dream. Speak. Live., children who stutter benefit from explicit training in communication skills, and these gains are not dependent on the presence of stuttered speech.

Targeting Communication Effectiveness in Adults Who Stutter

“…on overall communication effectiveness for children who stutter, indicating significant gains across all nine individual communication competencies after completion of the program as rated by unfamiliar listeners. Critically, none of the gains observed in the children's communication competence in these studies were significantly predicted by their pretreatment stuttering severity, which ranged from very mild to very severe (Byrd, Hampton, et al, 2016;Byrd et al, 2018Byrd et al, , 2021.…”

“…Live. Byrd et al (2021) reported gains in eight of nine competencies, with the exception of gestures. The precise reasons certain competencies fall short of significance across studies are speculative, but it could reflect individualized strengths and weaknesses of each client, resulting in 11 individual participants focusing their efforts on disparate aspects of communication.…”

“…Each of these events was followed by explicit feedback, both positive and constructive, from peers and clinicians about the effectiveness of participants' communication in terms of content (i.e., language use, language organization), paralinguistics (i.e., rate, intonation, volume), and nonverbal behaviors (i.e., gestures, body position, eye contact, facial expressions). Preliminary data provided by Byrd et al (2021) demonstrate the positive influence of Camp Dream. Speak.…”

“…The explicit exclusion of activities designed to reduce frequency or any physical characteristic of the child's stuttered speech yielded similarly impressive posttreatment quality-of-life outcomes, as measured by the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering (OASES; Yaruss & Quesal, 2010) and KiddyCAT (Vanryckeghem & Brutten, 2007), and parent-perceived abilities to establish peer relationships, as measured by the PROMIS Pediatric Peer-Relationship Scale (DeWalt et al, 2013; for further detail, see Byrd, Hampton, et al, 2016). Positive cognitive and affective outcomes in the absence of fluency-focused treatment goals have been replicated twice in follow-up studies with additional cohorts of children and adolescents who stutter as the program continues to expand worldwide (Byrd et al, 2018, 2021).…”

Why Stuttering Occurs

“…Furthermore, the excessive cognitive control required for success in fluency shaping may increase cognitive conflict, leading to relapse and sense of failure. In contrast, treatment approaches that emphasize communicative competence (Byrd et al, 2021) and acceptance of stuttering (Sisskin, 2018) may reduce motivational conflict over the long-term by increasing approach motivation and decreasing avoidance motivation. These types of treatment approaches are best positioned to reduce cognitive conflict in people who stutter and are thus most congruent with the theoretical account proposed here.…”