Compared to preschool and adult stuttering treatments, there has been less research into therapies designed for school-aged children who stutter. While holistic treatments, which focus on fostering a positive communication attitude and stuttering acceptance alongside speech techniques to minimise the occurrence and/or struggle associated with overt stuttering moments, are often recommended for this age-group, the resultant treatments are often time-intensive for both the client and the speech-language pathologist.

This study investigated the efficacy of a time-efficient individual therapy, utilising supported self-help strategies, in reducing the overt stuttering and the psychosocial impacts of stuttering on school-aged children.

Three school-aged participants, with mild to moderate overt stuttering and mild-moderate to severe OASES-S scores, were recruited. Each participant participated in a three-week long program that combined the Camperdown Program and self-help strategies in the form of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, via the Happiness Trap Pocketbook. Both quantitative and qualitative data regarding communication and anxiety measures were obtained during the treatment. Qualitative interviews investigating the participants’, parents’, and clinicians’ perceptions of the therapy were held one month-post therapy completion. Follow-up data from the parents and participants was collected 9 months-post treatment. Critical Realistic Evaluation methodology was used to explore contexts and mechanisms that led to favourable and disappointing outcomes of the treatment. Proposed context-mechanism-outcome (CMO) configurations were developed.

Key mechanisms observed included parental support, parental perceptions of treatment approach, parent and child commitment to therapy, child’s re-evaluation of stuttering, and child’s perception of stuttering. Key contextual features which impacted on outcomes included a stable and supportive environment, working parents and the fact that it was a time-intensive program over a short period of time.

The CMO configurations developed from this study, shine light on potential contextual factors required to obtain the most successful therapy outcomes for school-aged children who stutter.

At the conclusion of the presentation, attendees will understand:
1) what did and didn't work when using this treatment with this age group
2) proposed contexts and mechanisms that contribute to favourable and less favourable outcomes with this age-group