The Lidcombe Program of early stuttering intervention for Malaysian families: Four case studies

• Published in: Journal of fluency disorders Vol. 49; pp. 29 - 39
• Main Authors: Vong, Etain, Wilson, Linda, Lincoln, Michelle
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01-09-2016; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Bilingualism; Case studies; Child, Preschool; Early Intervention (Education) - methods; Families & family life; Female; Humans; Lidcombe Program; Malaysia; Male; Multilingualism; Outcomes; Pilot study; Preschool children; Program Evaluation; Speech Production Measurement - methods; Speech therapy; Speech Therapy - methods; Stuttering; Stuttering - therapy; Treatment Outcome; Malaysia; Pilot study; Lidcombe Program; Malaysia; Outcomes
• ISSN: 0094-730X; 1873-801X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jfludis.2016.07.003

•We implement the Lidcombe Program with four Malaysian families.•We investigate speech outcomes of the participants.•We investigate whether adaptations of the Lidcombe Program are required.•Speech outcomes for participants demonstrate a decrease in stuttering frequency.•Adaptations are not required during implementation.
This study investigated the outcomes of implementing the Lidcombe Program, an evidence-based early intervention for stuttering, with four preschool children in Malaysia. Early stuttering intervention is currently underdeveloped in Malaysia, where stuttering treatment is often more assertion-based than evidence-based. Therefore, introducing an evidence-based early stuttering intervention is an important milestone for Malaysian preschoolers who stutter.
The participants ranged from 3 years 3 months to 4 years 9 months at the start of the study. Beyond-clinic speech samples were obtained at 1 month and 1 week pretreatment and immediately post-Stage 1, and at 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months post-Stage 1.
Two participants, who were bilingual, achieved near-zero levels of stuttering at 12 months posttreatment. Near zero levels of stuttering were also present in their untreated languages. One participant withdrew due to reasons not connected with the research or treatment. The remaining participant, who presented with severe stuttering, completed Stage 1 but had some relapse in Stage 2 and demonstrated mild stuttering 12 months post-Stage 1.
The outcomes were achieved without the need to significantly adapt Lidcombe Program procedures to Malaysian culture. Further research to continue evaluation of the Lidcombe Program with Malaysian families and to estimate proportion of those who will respond is warranted.