The Stocker Probe

Rebecca Fredrickson and Sarah Vines

-developed by Beatrice Stocker and Robert Goldfarb

-a diagnostic tool used for both fluency and language assessment

-first published in 1976 and is currently in it¹s 3^rd edition

The Stocker Probe Technique

Initial Evaluation

Administration of the ³I² Probes (I=initial)

These probes include objects with which the child is familiar

There are 5 levels of demand that are presented in random order

Each level asks a question associated with the probe (object) at hand

Each level elicits a different type of response corresponding to difficulty level

Level I brief one word response

Level II short response

Level III response requiring prepositional phrase

Level IV list a series of attributes

Level V elicits creative and lengthy responses

Scoring

The child either stutters (-) or s/he does not (+)

Severity Ratings

1-10 disfluencies is normal to mild

11-20 disfluencies is moderate

21-30 disfluencies is severe

31 or more disfluencies is very severe

Determine a starting level for which to begin treatment

Find the lowest level at which the child stutters and then begin treatment one level below this point

Baseline

Use a stop watch and begin timing as soon as child begins to speak and once the child stutters stop the clock (this gives you a fluency count)

Take the average of three fluency counts to determine the baseline

Begin Treatment

During treatment use the ³O² Probes as ongoing evaluation

Reevaluation

This is done at the end of 25 weeks

Uses ³R² Probes (which are the same as the ³I² Probes)

Even though you are using the same objects you ask the questions in a different

order