PURPOSE:To find out what information children, parents and education staff feel would be important to know to support a child who stutters in the educational environment, in order to develop appropriate resources. METHOD:A Delphi study was carried out to seek the opinions of experts about the information to include. A structured six stage process was completed in order to gain consensus within four expert panels: children who stutter (CWS) aged 7-11 (n=25); young people who stutter aged 12-18 (n=27); parents of children and young people who stutter aged 2-18 (n=67); and members of the education workforce (n=35). RESULTS:In response to the questions, 538 statements were generated across the four expert panels, categorised and reduced to 276. Of the 154 rating questionnaires sent out, 99 were returned (64.2% response rate). The top 32 statements, which were those most highly rated and with the greatest consensus, were retained to inform the resources. CONCLUSIONS:This study demonstrates the value of including service users when devising materials aimed for the benefit of CWS. The methodology employed ensured that ideas, perceptions and needs were representative of a range of people who experience stuttering from different perspectives. The results indicated that each expert panel had different priorities of what should be included. The resulting resources may therefore be considered to have high content validity and would be predicted to meet the needs of those who require them. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES:The reader will be able to (1) define the Delphi Approach (2) discuss the development of a user led resource for raising awareness about stuttering.

Several therapy programs have been demonstrated to be effective in supporting the development of fluency in preschool children who stutter. However, there is increasing evidence in allied fields suggesting that a positive therapy outcome cannot be entirely attributed to the therapy program itself, but also depends on what the therapist brings to the therapeutic context. This article seeks to discuss the therapist's skills and attributes that play a part in the development of the therapeutic alliance, which underpins therapy involving parents of young children who stutter. Using a model of clinical expertise development, the article discusses the attributes and skills that are necessary for the development of expertise, along with the behavioral and cognitive changes that evolve as a therapist becomes increasingly expert at using one particular program, Palin Parent-Child Interaction Therapy.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of Palin Parent-Child Interaction (Palin PCI) therapy with young children who stutter. Ten children who stutter (age 3;07-4-11) were randomly allocated to a treatment (n = 6) or to a no treatment condition (n = 4). A single subject series design was used to evaluate progress over baseline (A1), therapy (B1 + B2) and follow up (A2) phases. Multiple measures of stuttering frequency were obtained from home-based video recordings. Children in the no treatment condition completed phases A1 and A2 only. Stuttering frequency was analysed using cusum. Language was assessed and a parent questionnaire completed at the start and end of the study. All six children who received therapy and one child in the no treatment condition significantly reduced stuttering frequency over the period of the study. This was associated with therapy in four cases. Children who received therapy and began with above average expressive language skills had lower scores relative to age at the end of the study. Families who participated in therapy reported reduced impact and increased knowledge and confidence in managing stuttering at the end of the study. Palin PCI can be effective in reducing stuttering frequency in individual young children who stutter.

Purpose To investigate the efficacy of parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) with young children who stutter. Method This is a longitudinal, multiple single-subject study. The participants were 6 children aged 3;3–4;10 [years;months] who had been stuttering for longer than 12 months. Therapy consisted of 6 sessions of clinic-based therapy and 6 weeks of home consolidation. Speech samples were videorecorded during free play with parents at home and analyzed to obtain stuttering data for each child before therapy, during therapy, and up to 12 months posttherapy. Results Stuttering frequency data obtained during therapy and posttherapy were compared with the frequency and variability of stuttering in the baseline phase. Four of the 6 children significantly reduced stuttering with both parents by the end of the therapy phase. Conclusions PCIT can reduce stuttering in preschool children with 6 sessions of clinic-based therapy and 6 weeks of parent-led, home-based therapy. The study highlights the individual response to therapy. Suggestions for future research directions are made.

BACKGROUND:This paper is intended to contribute to the current debate in relation to persistent stuttering and evidence-based clinical practice.AIMS:The paper will describe the authors' intervention framework for persistent stuttering, which is guided by evidence from the fields of stuttering and clinical psychology. It supports the opinion that the components of therapy should be grounded in empirically based theories that offer an explanation for the nature of stuttering, its persistence and its individual complexity. It will argue that the goals of therapy should reflect the client's personal values and experience of stuttering, as well as the knowledge and skills of the therapist.MAIN CONTRIBUTION:The paper maintains that therapy for this disorder needs to account for the highly individual nature of the overt and covert dimensions of persistent stuttering and identify the formal and informal methods that measure progress and outcome. Current research and future directions will be touched on briefly.

Content analysis was undertaken of the case records of 61 children who stuttered who were attending a specialist centre for children who stutter. The subjects were divided into two groups, on the basis of family history of stuttering. Positive family histories of stuttering were reported for 44 children and 17 had negative family histories. The two groups were compared in terms of gender ratios, the age of onset and the type of onset (gradual vs. sudden) of stuttering. Those with positive family histories began stuttering earlier than those with no reported family history of stuttering, though this difference was not statistically significant. The type of onset of stuttering was not related to the presence or absence of a family history of stuttering. The findings are discussed in terms of the practicability of this method of data collection.

This article presents the view that parental involvement is essential in the effective management of children who stutter. Our assessment procedures provide clinicians with the basis for ensuring full parental participation. Three approaches are proposed that reflect the changes in the type and degree of involvement required and the therapy goals for different age groups. The first approach considers parent-child interaction skills as a basis for facilitating the development of fluency skills in young children. Intensive group therapy programs are then suggested for the age groups 7–14 and 15–18 years, with differing degrees of parental input.