Background: While evidence-based practice is widely endorsed by researchers, clinicians and professional bodies as a guiding framework for the provision of quality care to clients, the reliance on efficacy evidence may overshadow the benefits of other knowledge forms in supporting intervention design and evaluation. Due consideration needs to be…

The purpose of this study was to examine the benefits of a treatment approach for adults who stutter that focuses on core communication competencies rather than attempt to modify speech fluency. Eleven adults who stutter completed a 12-week treatment program at The Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research. Pre- and…

Background: Stuttering, a neurodevelopmental speech fluency disorder, is associated with intermittent disruptions of speech-motor control. Behavioural treatments for adults who stutter (AWS) concentrate on adopting speech patterns that enhance fluency, such as speaking rhythmically or prolonging speech sounds. However, maintaining these treatment…

Purpose: This study investigated the complexity of stuttering behavior. It described and classified the complexity of stuttering behavior in relation to age, behavioral treatment outcomes, stuttering severity, anxiety-related mental health, impact of stuttering, and gender. Method: For this study, a taxonomy was developed--LBDL-C7--which was based…

Purpose: iGlebe is an individualized, fully automated Internet cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) treatment program that requires no clinician contact. Phase I and II trials have demonstrated that it may be efficacious for treating the social anxiety commonly associated with stuttering. The present trial sought to establish whether the outcomes…

Background: Multiple factors can influence the working alliance and treatment outcome in speech and language therapy. The 'working alliance' is an important concept in treatment and can be described as the degree to which a treatment dyad is engaged in collaborative, purposive work. To date, relatively little attention has been paid to this…

A mindfulness meditation exercise was incorporated into a stuttering treatment program for an adult male who stutters. Speech disfluencies were analyzed before and after mindfulness meditation and implementation of fluency shaping techniques. Findings suggested that including a mindfulness meditation exercise into a treatment program may be…

Background: Many adults who stutter presenting for speech treatment experience social anxiety disorder. The presence of mental health disorders in adults who stutter has been implicated in a failure to maintain speech treatment benefits. Contemporary theories of social anxiety disorder propose that the condition is maintained by negative…

Background: At present, percent syllables stuttered (%SS) is the gold standard outcome measure for behavioural stuttering treatment research. However, ordinal severity rating (SR) procedures have some inherent advantages over that method. Aims: To establish the relationship between Clinician %SS, Clinician SR and self-reported Speaker SR. To…

Objectives: During speech pathology professional preparation there is a need for adequate student instruction with speech-restructuring treatments for adults. An important part of that clinical educational experience is to participate in a clinical setting that produces outcomes equivalent to those attained during clinical trials. A previous…

The present study compared the ability of 12 people who stutter (PWS) and 12 people who do not stutter (PNS) to consolidate a novel sequential speech task. Participants practiced 100 repetitions of a single, monosyllabic, nonsense word sequence during an initial practice session and returned 24-h later to perform an additional 50 repetitions.…

Background: Narrative therapy (White & Epston, 1990) was developed as an approach to counselling, as a response to the power relations that influence people's lives. Its use with people who stutter has been documented. A basic tenet of narrative therapy is that the dominant problem-saturated narrative is challenged by externalizing the problem, in…

The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy group intervention program for adults who stutter (N = 20). The program consisted of 2-h therapeutic sessions conducted weekly for eight consecutive weeks. It was an integrated program designed to improve: (a) psychosocial functioning, (b)…

Previous research has not explored the Five Factor Model of personality among adults who stutter. Therefore, the present study investigated the five personality domains of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, as measured by the NEO Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), in a sample of 93 adults seeking speech…

Purpose: To illustrate the way in which both fluency shaping (FS) and stuttering management (SM) treatments for developmental stuttering in adults are evidence based. Method: A brief review of the history and development of FS and SM is provided. It illustrates that both can be justified as evidence-based treatments, each treatment seeking…