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Psychological impact of the Lidcombe Program of early stuttering intervention
Author(s) -
Woods Sarah,
Shearsby Julia,
Onslow Mark,
Burnham Denis
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
international journal of language and communication disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.101
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1460-6984
pISSN - 1368-2822
DOI - 10.1080/13682820110096670
Subject(s) - stuttering , psychology , cbcl , anxiety , praise , developmental psychology , intervention (counseling) , aggression , clinical psychology , checklist , child behavior checklist , psychotherapist , psychiatry , cognitive psychology
The Lidcombe Program is an operant treatment for stuttering in preschool children for which favourable outcome and social validity data have been published. The treatment involves parental praise for stutter‐free speech in children's everyday speaking environments, and occasional correction of stuttered speech. Theoretical perspectives on the origins of stuttering have prompted suggestions that the Lidcombe Program may have an adverse psychological impact on children. The present preliminary investigation sought to identify any evidence of such a systematic, pernicious trend, which might justify statistically powerful investigations of the issue with large subject numbers. Subjects were eight preschool children who were successfully treated with the Lidcombe Program. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) detected any post‐treatment behavioural markers of changes in children such as anxiety, aggression, withdrawal or depression. The Attachment Q‐Set (AQS) measured any changes in the quality of the attachment relationship between child and mother over the course of treatment. These case studies revealed no evidence of a systematic trend in either. In fact, CBCL data suggested improvements in the children after treatment. It is concluded that there is no reason to doubt that the Lidcombe Program is a safe treatment.