Extensive stuttering therapy in Turkish children who stutter

Abstract

Background/aim: In this study, the immediate and extended outcomes of the stuttering therapy programme were investigated for the first time in Turkey. This paper reports the results of an eight-week extensive stuttering therapy programme for 35 school-aged and adolescents who stutter. Materials and methods: Measurements were made immediately before and after the treatment and again during the follow-up period, 6 months' post-treatment. The measures included percentage of stuttering and syllables spoken per minute. Results: Turkish school-aged and adolescent children who stutter showed more within-word dysfluencies than between-word dysfluencies. In addition, stuttering characteristics included (in) audible sound prolongations (24%) and sound/syllable repetition (49%). The results indicated that substantial positive changes occurred and were maintained in speech performance with an eight-week stuttering therapy. Conclusion: The present study examined the characteristics of dysfluencies in school-aged and adolescents and then dysfluency characteristics were taken to account before and after stuttering therapy of children and adolescents who stutter at moderate degree in Turkey. Extensive therapy courses were determined for children and adolescents who stutter and their families changed the stuttering behaviour of the participants.