EVALUATING EFFICACY OF TREATMENT OF STUTTERING - SCHOOL-AGE-CHILDREN

Our purpose in writing this article is to discuss current problems and progress in evaluating efficacy of treatment of stuttering in school-age children. We will focus on children between approximately 6 and 12 years of age (i. e., 1 st through 6th grades of elementary school). Problems unique to this population in terms of nature of stuttering, treatment approaches, measurement, reliability, validity, and long-term outcome will be discussed, with particular relevance to the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy with school-age stutterers. We will suggest guidelines and standards for conducting and evaluating research on treatment efficacy with school-age children who stutter, in the hope that this may lead to a more focused, coordinated effort in this area. One major point we wish to make in this chapter is that true therapy efficacy involves improving the stuttering child's ability to use his speech in daily communicative situations. Thus, we are concerned not only with improvement in stuttering in clinical settings, but also with gains in the child's use of his speech-whether he is fluent or stuttering-at home, school, and play.