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Re: To treat or not to treat?

From: Ann Packman
Date: 10/21/03
Time: 12:02:47 AM
Remote Name: 129.78.64.100

Comments

I will answer the second part of your question first. We know from research that waiting for up to a year after onset of stuttering is unlikely to jeopardise responsiveness to the Lidcombe Program. The preschoolers in our large studies commenced the Program before turning 6 and the decision on how long to wait should take this into account, along with the more meagre evidence that responsiveness apparently decreases after this age. Of course, the results of research with the Lidcombe Program cannot be generalised to other treatments. Now to the first part of your question. I stress that monitoring during any waiting period should be active—I think the term “watchful waiting” captures this idea nicely. In other words, we would not send the parent and child away with instructiuons to contact us if the child doesn’t recover. Rather we would ensure that direct contact is made with the family, perhaps every month or two, with some procedure in place for measuring—and so detecting trends in—stuttering severity.


Last changed: September 12, 2005