Pilot: Group Therapy for Children Who Stammer

A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial of the Effectiveness of Intensive Group Speech and Language Therapy as a Treatment for Older Children Who Stammer

The aim of the study is to answer the question: Is a large-scale research study of the effectiveness of group speech and language therapy (SALT) for young people who stammer possible?

The study will look at the issues involved in setting up a large-scale investigation of treatment for young people who stammer. It will inform the investigators whether larger studies would be possible and give some early-stage information on the effectiveness of group SALT for these young people. The findings will pave the way for building and testing out treatment programmes where there will be clear positive benefit for young people who stammer and their families.

To answer the research question, the study will tell the investigators (a) how easy/difficult it was to get people to take part, (b) young people and parents'/carers' views on taking part and (c) whether the assessments were able to pick up changes in speech and attitudes towards stammering reported by the young people and their carers.

Sufficient numbers of participants were not recruited to carry out the intended rehearsal pilot RCT study design.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Stammering
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: One-week speech therapy group

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 6
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Tyne and Wear
    • Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, United Kingdom
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 8 years to 15 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Aged between 8;0 years and 15;11 years at 20.07.09
• Currently in treatment, on review or on waiting list for treatment.
• Has had an initial NHS Speech and Language Therapy assessment by Newcastle, Northumberland or North Tyneside Speech and Language Therapy service.
• Has a diagnosis of stammering.
• Has sufficient understanding of spoken (English) language to score at or above the 16th percentile on the Understanding Linguistic Concepts subtest of the CELF-4UK assessment.
• Available to attend treatment for the whole week of 20th July 2009
• Available to attend treatment for the whole week of 24th August 2009

Exclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of Attention and/or Hyperactivity Disorders
• Diagnosis of moderate or severe general learning difficulties
• Diagnosis of moderate or severe receptive and/or pragmatic language difficulties
• Parent/carer for whom an interpreter would be required

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Treatment group; attendance at one-week speech therapy group	Behavioral: One-week speech therapy group; One-week cross-district speech therapy group for older children (aged 8 to 15) who stammer

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Evaluation of Stuttering (OASES) score	July 2009 week 2, July 2009 week 4, October 2009 week 4

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust
• Collaborators: University of Newcastle Upon-Tyne; North Tyneside Primary Care Trust; Northumberland Care Trust
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Lucy E Paterson, MA, BSc, Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: June 1, 2009
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 1, 2009
• Study Completion (Actual): October 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 21, 2009
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 22, 2009
• First Posted (Estimate): July 23, 2009

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): October 12, 2015
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 7, 2015
• Last Verified: October 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: children; RCT; randomised controlled trial; Stuttering; stutter; Speech and Language Therapy; pilot; stammer
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Speech Disorders; Stuttering
• Other Study ID Numbers: 4565