The westmead program

The Oakville Program is similar to the Westmead Program. They both use STS in everyday situations and treatment is directed towards young children. The key difference between these two programs is that the Oakville Program uses parent verbal contingencies, which is positive feedback when a child talks stutter-free speech or self-corrects their stutter. For more information about our Stuttering Treatment Sydney get in touch with one of our Speech Pathologists today on 02 Trusted Stuttering Treatments for Your Child When it comes to stuttering, Australian Speech Pathologists use the Lidcombe Program as the most effective treatment for stuttering in young children.

Parents are encouraged to use STS practice sessions at home with their child times a day for about minutes each time. Parents and children meet with their Speech Pathologist weekly to discuss the progress of the child and to compare SR scores. A while back, one young client challenged me to come up with a list of activities he could use to practice his robot talking. Well, I love a good challenge! This is achieved by saying each syllable with equal stress to a rhythmic beat — almost like — you guessed it — a robot.

In line with the clinical trials, children learn and then practice the technique times a day, for minutes each time, until stuttering is eliminated or almost eliminated. This is followed by a period of maintenance where the treatment is slowly withdrawn under the supervision of a speech pathologist to minimise relapse risk.

It is thought that, in children, STS may induce long-term improvements in stuttering severity before their neural pathways for speech are established Trajkovski et al. Incidentally, the effects of STS are usually temporary for adults who stutter. The Westmead Program does not — yet — have the same level of evidence to support its effectiveness as the Lidcombe Program, but its research base is growing. A phase II trial of the Westmead Program: Syllable-timed speech treatment for pre-school children who stutter.

International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 13 6 : Skip to content Skip to primary sidebar Skip to footer In Australia, there is near consensus among speech pathologists that the Lidcombe Program is the most effective treatment for pre-schoolers who stutter — especially amongst those of us who were trained at Sydney University.

Nine dropped out for various reasons, including satisfaction with early speech gains and problems completing the program because both parents worked full-time. The researchers commented that families tended to withdraw at the point when low-level stuttering severity had been attained, but not stabilised.

After the treatment and at 12 months post-stage 2 entry, the mean stuttering severity had decreased to 0. Related articles: The Lidcombe Program for stuttering Stuttering treatments: what works for whom? An evidence update Parent dilemma: what to do when your child stutters and has speech sound problems — research update 5 ways for teachers to help children who stutter — tips from people who stutter themselves My school-age child stutters.