The Effect of Distance Delivery of Lidcombe Program on The Severity of Stuttering in Preschool Children: A Single-Subject Study

The Lidcombe therapeutic program is one of the treatments for stuttering in preschool children whose effectiveness on improvement in stuttering has been confirmed. Some families have no access to care centers due to different reasons and as such, they are deprived of treatment. Distant treatment would be a proper solution for this issue, in which all people can reach their needed treatment without being concerned over their geographical locations. Because some research has been conducted on telepractice for speech and language disorders in different ways in different countries, regarding the cultural differences that influence the duration of the Lidcombe program as well as its distant implementation, we investigated the extent of the stuttering effect in telepractice program on preschool children in Iran.

In this single-subject study, the Lidcombe program was implemented through live video communication between the therapist in a clinic and the subjects at home for 15 weekly sessions on five 4-6-year-old children, including three boys and two girls. To investigate the progress of the effect, the percentage of stuttered syllables, which were recorded by the therapist as well as the 9-score stuttering severity scale, which was recorded by the parents at home, were employed. During the first base line, which had been considered as three weeks, 21 times the severity rating were recorded, while 3 times the percentage of stuttered syllables were recorded. In the treatment phase, which lasted 15 weekly sessions, 105 and 15 times the score of severity and the percentage of stuttered syllables were recorded respectively. In the second base line, which had been considered as three weeks, 21 and 3 times the score of severity and the percentage of stuttered syllables were recorded respectively.

To analyze the data of this study, Z-index and diagram plotting were used. The investigation of the stuttering severity scores and the percentage of stuttered syllables before and after the treatment suggest diminished severity and percentage of the stuttered syllables in children. After 15 sessions, two subjects approached the final criteria of the first phase of the Lidcombe program (scores with intensities one and two); however, they did not achieve the criteria. Other subjects did not achieve the final criteria in the first phase either, in spite of the diminished severity and percentage of stuttering.

The results obtained from this research suggest the effects of the Lidcombe telepractice program on the reduction of stuttering in the subjects. The results of this study showed that after 15 treatment sessions, the other subjects did not manage to achieve the final criteria of the first phase of this program.The outcome of this research indicates a positive effect of the Lidcombe telepractice program on the reduction of stuttering severity in the subjects. Nevertheless, they did not manage to approach the final criteria in the first phase of this program after joining 15 sessions.Based on these results, it can be concluded that the presentation of the Lidcombe telepractice program can be effective in reducing the severity of stuttering. However, more sessions may be required in this type of treatment, compared to the in-person one.