Client Expectations for Fluency versus Actual Speech Performance in and Outside the Clinic following Treatment for Stuttering

Abstract

A major problem of the behavioural oriented stuttering therapies concerns the transfer and maintenance of treatment skills. One aspect of this problem involves the type of assessment that should be conducted in order to evaluate the success of therapy. Many researchers and clinicians have questioned the use of clinic assessment as valid indicators of non-clinic performance. It is believed that the clinic imposes a fluency enhancing effect, thus resulting in a clinic sample that does not reflect non-clinic performance. Factors that may well be operating as fluency cues include the supportive atmosphere engendered by the clinician(s), client beliefs in the therapy, rapport with the clinician and the relatively constant stimulus situation. In order to investigate this clinic versus non-clinic issue, research was conducted 10 months following stuttering therapy exploring the relationship between telephone fluency inside and outside the clinic setting. Subjects' expectancies about their speech performance insi...