Response Cost Intervention Program for Kannada‑Speaking Preschool Children who Stutter: Case Series

Abstract

Introduction: Stuttering is reported to be highly prevalent in both children and adults, and has always drawn the attention of the clinicians and researchers. A vast body of literature exists on the intervention of stuttering in adults. However, research in the case of children who stutter (CWS) has gained momentum in the recent past. Research investigations in the past and clinical anecdotes have proven the potential benefits of early intervention. However, only a handful of the techniques have been explored. Response cost (RC) treatment is a widely adopted clinical approach with some positive evidence. The current study explored the effectiveness of RC treatment in preschool CWS. Methods: Participants were five children who stuttered in the age range of 3– 6 years. Spontaneous speech samples of all children were recorded both pre- and post-treatment. Recorded samples were analyzed for percentage of syllables stuttered (%SS), parent and clinician severity ratings, stuttering severity instrument (SSI)-4 scores, and naturalness ratings. Results: The results revealed a significant decrease in the %SS, severity ratings, and SSI-4 scores, and significant improvement in speech naturalness ratings in all the five participants. Conclusions: The study is the first one to document significant clinical improvement following RC intervention in Kannada-speaking preschool CWS. Future investigations with an experimental design, larger sample sizes, and monolingual as well as bilingual participants who stutter and multiple outcome variables are warranted.