Effect of Use of Lidcombe Program on Degree of Stuttering Severity

Abstract

Abstract Background The incidence rate of stuttering is 5% among preschool children and about 1% among adults. Although the cause of stuttering has not been identified, a multifactorial hypothesis of stuttering has gained acceptance. Aim of the Work To evaluate the effect of using Lidcombe program on the degree of stuttering after its application on a group of children versus persistance or minimal change in the severity in other group of children facing the same citcumstances. Patients and Methods This randomized controlled clinical trial study was carried out at the outpatient clinic of Phoniatrics unit, ENT department, Ain Shams University Hospitals. A total of 60 children were included and divided between two groups. Control group; which included 30 cases who were submitted to parents counselling alone without involving the child with follow up weekly for three months to assess if there was improvement or not by SSI and SPI tools and also to predict the degree of chronicity of childhood stuttering, and test group; which included 30 cases who were submitted to Lidcombe Program. Results There was statistical significant differences between study groups as regard post-intervention assessment of stuttering severity using stuttering severity instrument. cases treated with program improved and become very mild and mild, also severe cases improved to become moderate cases, while in group treated with counselling, only very mild and mild cases who have improved while other cases become the same or got worsen. Conclusion stuttering will remain a perplexing disorder and assessing its severity is a matter of clinician's clinical experience. Despite the tools used to assess stuttering severity, it is better to assess the child with the disorder rather than assessing the disorder. Taking in considerations that the covert symptoms are the key for deciding the stuttering severity more than the overt symptoms, specifically with the older children.