Identification of Efficacy of Lidcombe Program in Reducing of the Severity of Stuttering in Preschool Children Who Stutter and Their Parent's Anxiety Reduction

Stutter is determined by occuring high incidence or severe disruptions during the progressive speech. Parents often distrees due to the occurrence of stuttering in preschool child. The present research was done to determine the effectiveness of Lidcombe program treatment on reducing of preschool children's stuttering severity and their parent’s anxiety.
The present research was an interventional study and a single-case study with A-B-A design which was done on 5 preschool stuttering children in Shiraz. The subjects were selected from speech therapy clinics based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The intervention was conducted in 15 sessions. The anxiety of parents with Kettle questionnaire and the stuttering severity of children with scale stuttering severity SR (stuttering rate) and stuttered syllables percent (%SS) at the first base line (before the intervention) and the second base line (after the intervention) and during the intervention were calculated and compared.
The findings of the present research were analyzed based on visual analysis and descriptive statistics indexes. The findings showed that the intervention was effective on 5 subjects (PND=75-100%).
According to the results of study, there is a possibility that besides the effect of Lidcombe program treatment on reducing of preschool children's stuttering severity, this intervention can also be effective on reducing of the anxiety of their parents because this program was run by parents and causes a sense of power and confidence in them. Therefore, in choosing the treatment for stuttering in preschool children, the active involvement of parents in the treatment should be noted, especially when parents have anxiety.