A phase II trial of the Westmead Program: Syllable-timed speech treatment for pre-school children who stutter

Abstract

This report presents a Phase II clinical trial of a syllable-timed speech treatment for early stuttering known as The Westmead Program. Of 17 children recruited, eight children aged between 3–4.5 years (mean 3 years 8 months) completed the treatment. The primary outcome measure was percentage syllables stuttered (%SS) measured from independent, blinded speech assessments of beyond-clinic audio recordings. Secondary outcomes were measures of treatment time, speech quality, and parent severity ratings. Dropouts occurred, but at a similar rate to other clinical trials of this nature. For the eight children who completed the treatment, mean pre-treatment stuttering was 6.0%SS and at 12-months post-Stage 2 entry stuttering had decreased to 0.2%SS, representing a mean stuttering reduction of 96%. A large effect size was obtained with a mean of 8.0 clinical hours required for these children to reach Stage 2. Independent listeners judged the everyday speech of all children to be not unnatural in any way. Stuttering reductions were attained with clinical efficiency and simplicity compared to other early stuttering interventions. Further clinical trials development of the treatment is warranted.

Keywords:

• Stuttering
• syllable-timed speech
• treatment
• intervention