Stuttering Intervention Strategies and Their Short and Long Term Results

Stuttering is a developmental speech problem in which the continuous flow of words is interrupted by repetition of words, sounds or the prolongation of sounds.  Stuttering is a disorder that is treatable among the children and adolescents. There is a variety of approaches employed to address stuttering among children and adolescents. All the intervention methods agree that stuttering is a condition that can be treated over time. The behavioral response to stuttering is one practical approach to addressing the problem. Behavioral approaches for Stuttering Interventions are interventions that involve an attempt to change the speech behavior through the direct attempt to modify the speech problem, through operant conditioning or a combination of both. The short-term outcome of the behavioral approach to stuttering indicated a change in the stuttering. In the short run, there is a significant reduction of stuttering and in some patients the stuttering completely stops. However, if not followed with good support and the therapy is stopped, there is the danger of a relapse to stuttering especially in case one experiences a traumatic event.

Article 1: Behavioral Stuttering Interventions for Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 9 studies.

The purpose of article 1 was to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioral interventions designed to treat stuttering among the children. The article used the systematic review to conduct the research with the treatment being the behavioral intervention to stuttering. The participants in the study were of ages 2 to 18 years of age. Seventy-seven per cent of the participants were male, and twenty-three percent were female. The research design adopted is the quasi- experimental group design since it was not a true experiment. The outcome measure reported was stuttering among children. The researcher conducted an electronic search of eight databases and yielded nine types of research (Nye et. al., 2013). The researches represented 327 participants that were treated using the approach to treating stuttering across seven differing intervention types. The data was obtained for the participant treatment and outcome features and methodological quality.  The results of the study indicated that there was no considerable difference in the treatment methods adopted. However, treatment of the stuttering disorder brought about positive results a compared to the group that did not receive the treatment. It stands to validate the treatment approaches adopted meaning that they are successful in treating stuttering.

The methodology is taken into account by the systematic review in the article involved the establishment of a suitable criterion to be used in searching for the relevant data. The criteria taken into consideration addressed the procedures for study inclusion whereby only the RCTs and QED researches of two or more groups would be included in the study. The other criterion was on study retrieval whereby the keywords and the databases to be included were determined. The study selection was also determined whereby it took place in two stages. Stage 1 was the title and the abstract screening and stage two involved the full-text manuscript screening. The data extraction included coding of each study across four primary dimensions namely: design features, participant features, intervention characteristics and the outcome features (Nye et. al., 2013).

Table 1 indicates all the features of the participants. It shows the problems that the patients faced and the difficulties that they had. It also suggests the treatment method administered to each participant making it easy to identify the treatment given to the participants. The outcome of the treatment is documented for each participant. With the table, it is easy for the researchers to address the issue on the behavioral stuttering interventions for children. It is the information provided in the table that made it easier for the research to be conducted since the specific behavioral interventions were outlined for particular issues faced by the children. It made it possible to discern between interventions that are effective and those that are not.

Article 2: Long- and short-term results of children and adolescents’ therapy courses for stuttering

The purpose of the study is to address the rigorous therapy courses for children and teenagers that are stuttering. The study involved 21 children and adolescents that have the stuttering disorder together with 29 mothers and fathers to the affected children and adolescents. The age of the children was between 6.8 to 14 years old, and five were girls and 16 boys. The children formed two groups of children below ten years and adolescents of over ten years old. The children under ten years old took part in the study for children who stutter and the rest for adolescents that stutter (Laiho & Klippi, 2007). The analysis of the therapy was analyzed in three ways. First, the speech of the stuttering participants was videotaped at the beginning and the end of the course and then transcribed for analysis. The videotapes for all the participants were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Secondly, the parents and the participants were presented with a questionnaire to fill at the end of the course. Thirdly, the parents and the children filled a follow-up questionnaire after nine months after completing the course. It aimed at analyzing the changes in the stuttering behavior of the children after the therapy course was over. 

The results of the research showed that the stuttering of the children either became milder or did not change over the course. Additionally, the percentage of the syllables stuttered by the children dropped by two-thirds of the participants. The stuttering became milder, and more of the children had more prolongation and repetition instead of blocks. The positive outcome of the course was also present even after the course was completed (Laiho & Klippi, 2007).

Table 4 of the study indicates the participant’s percentages for stuttering behavior. It was an instrumental table at enabling the researcher to determine the changes that occurred because of the intervention employed by the researcher. It indicated the short-term and the long-term effects of therapy for the children and adolescents that stutter in a quantitative manner that can be interpreted and discussed qualitatively.

Article 1 relied heavily on a systematic review of the past studies and researches. It relied on the previous information from reliable sources to draw an inference on the research topic. On the either hand, article two built on conducting research that is independent, and that is custom made to the purpose and objectives of the research. Article one and two are similar in that they have both used a quasi-experiment design. It is because; the experiments in both cases do not fit the criteria to be extensive experiments. The article two, for example, did not have a control group that is critical for an experiment. The two articles also drew their participants from the children and adolescents since they are at a better chance of treatment of the stuttering problem they face. The research targets and participant numbers for the studies are big enough to draw an inference and make a generalization while at the same time remaining within the limits that are controllable and manageable.