From: Anne Bothe
Date: 10/16/00
Time: 6:06:45 PM
Remote Name: 128.192.24.120
Thanks for your questions! I have two answers about whether we provide parents with alternatives. The short answer, for this study in particular, is that we told parents what the study was about and then asked if they wanted to participate; part of our informed consent procedures was to explain (very briefly) what the different categories of options are. For this study, all the parents we spoke with agreed to participate, in part because what we were doing was comparing three procedures that have all been recommended by someone, somewhere -- we just wanted to see which one worked best for their child. Can't go wrong, with a choice like that!
The longer answer is that I do like to explain to parents, for people that I'm seeing purely clinically as opposed to for a particular study, what their options are. How much I would emphasize what I might see as a need for direct treatment varies a little bit, given such variables as how long the child has been stuttering, what the parents believe and want, and how long the child has already been in indirect treatment -- and for me, working in a university environment, that last is an important variable, because we often don't see the children until they've already not responded to some other treatment and then somebody finally takes what is sometimes perceived as a big step of "calling the university." But on the whole, I guess I tend to tell parents that I have read about success with direct treatments and that I have seen success with direct treatments in my own practice and research, and that, while I cannot promise anything to anyone because each child is special, I have every reason to believe, as a starting hypothesis, that direct treatments would most likely reduce their child's stuttering.
Sorry if I'm rambling along, and I hope I answered your question.