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From: Ann Packman
Date: 16 Oct 2008
Time: 00:44:23 -0500
Remote Name: 129.78.64.102
Hi Sue, nice article. I would like to clear up some misconceptions that have been posted about the Lidcombe Program randomised control trial. The trial was reported by Jones et al. (2005) in the British Medical Journal. There was a significant treatment effect after 9 months, compared to the no-treatment control group. The study was conducted according to CONSORT guidelines (see http://www.consort-statement.org/ which specify the appropriate methods and analyses for reporting trials in medical journals. They have been in existence for over 15 years. The study is replicable, as is the Lidcombe Program. As for the 5-year follow up study (Jones et al. 2008) of the children in this trial, it is indeed the case that three of the children were found to be stuttering again, after at least two years of fluency. This tells us that: (1) For these children the initial improvement in stuttering was apparently due to the treatment, not natural recovery (2) These children were at least spared the social penalties of stuttering for some of the early school years (3) At time of discharge from treatment, SLPs need to advise parents to be vigilant in the long term and to contact a SLP and/or re-instate treatment at the first signs of the re-appearance of stuttering (4) Further research is needed to develop better ways of maintaining Lidcombe treatment effects. Without this long-term follow up study, we would not have this important new knowledge about the nature of stuttering and about the need to work to further improve Lidcombe outcomes. Ann