A pragmatic pilot study of school speech-language pathologist delivery of the Lidcombe Program via telepractice

Purpose While evidence supports use of the Lidcombe Program for school-age children who stutter, accessing treatment can be problematic. Telepractice could overcome service barriers, yet scarce research has investigated telepractice delivered Lidcombe Program by school speech-language pathologists.Method In this pragmatic pilot study, 16 school-age children (6;1–11;2) received the Lidcombe Program via telepractice at home or school by one of five offsite speech-language pathologists. Independent speech data were collected before treatment and nine months after commencing treatment. Additionally, data regarding parent satisfaction and perspectives were collected.Result After nine months of treatment, speech data were collected from 10 of the 16 children, five of whom had already met criteria for entry to Lidcombe Program Stage 2. The remaining six children withdrew prior to this data-point. Significant group reductions in percentage of syllables stuttered (p = .05) and severity ratings (p = .05) were achieved, however should be interpreted with caution given varied participant treatment response. Parents reported that telepractice was convenient, increased access, and did not negatively impact the speech-language pathologists’ therapeutic relationship.Conclusion Reductions in stuttering, along with positive parent reports, mean telepractice delivered Lidcombe Program by school speech-language pathologists can be effective for some children while overcoming access barriers.