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From: Ann Packman
Date: 10/22/03
Time: 5:20:30 PM
Remote Name: 129.78.64.100
It is indeed common sense that the longer a child has been stuttering the less likely is it that natural recovery will occur. However, the research indicates that waiting for up to a year is unlikely to jeopardise a child’s responsiveness to the Lidcombe Program, and in fact there are signs that children may respond quicker if they have been stuttering for a year. This is the evidence that prompted the suggestion that it is preferable to wait for up to a year before introducing the Lidcombe Program, in the hope that natural recovery will occur during that time. In my view, parents’ ability to pay or their commitment to therapy would not override this evidence. As I have said, however, it is important to take individual circumstances into account with each child and family when deciding when to intervene.