Treatment for early stuttering with the Lidcombe Program | Sarita Koushik | TEDxNewy

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Sarita Koushik is an international student from Canada. She recently completed her doctoral studies in Speech Pathology at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She has been specializing in stuttering treatment and research for the past 11 years with focus on early stuttering. Her particular area of interest is treatment of early stuttering with an approach called the Lidcombe Program. Sarita is recently married and living in Newcastle with her husband and newly born first child. Her future plans are to continue her research in stuttering in the preschool and school age population.

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Good afternoon everyone.

My name is Sarita Koushik.

Five weeks ago I gave birth
to my first child.

His name is Marley.

I was asked to deliver my speech today
in approximately five minutes.

As you can see,

five minutes might not be enough time
for a person who stutters

to really get their message across.

As a matter of fact,

many adults who stutter will not speak
in a public event like this.

Research shows that advanced stuttering
is linked to mental health disorders

including social phobia and anxiety;

therefore, an early intervention program
is essential.

However, receiving treatment
in a timely manner

is not always possible, for two reasons.

One: The demands for speech and language
pathology have increased around the world

and have doubled to 16 months in parts of
Australia during the last year.

And two: To meet those demands,

clinical institutions are reducing the
number of allocated treatment sessions

which may not be enough for stuttering
child to complete the treatment process.

One such treatment is called
the Lidcombe Program;

it's an early intervention
approach for stuttering.

There are two stages of
a Lidcombe program.

In stage one, the parent and child
visit clinician on a weekly basis

and this continues until the child reaches
near zero levels of stuttering

and then the child enters the
second stage which is maintenance.

So the question is:

How long does sessions
take during stage one?

Well, evidence shows that in stage one
it takes 21 weekly clinic visits

for 90% of children to reach
zero level of stuttering;

however, with increased caseloads
and decreased numbers of clinic visits,

clinicians are not adhering
to weekly sessions,

but instead they're offering

more intensive

and less intensive treatment

than the standard.

So, the aim of my research is to evaluate
the effects of varying treatment schedules

on number of clinic visits during
stage one of the Lidcombe program.

Children in my study are randomly assigned
to one of three treatment options.

In the first group

they're receiving

weekly treatment

and we'll compare that

to the other two groups.

In the second they receive
twice weekly treatment

and in the third group they receive
treatment every fortnight.

So findings from my study will help
clinicians better manage their caseloads

will help clinical institutions make
informed decision

regarding optimal treatment sessions,

but ultimately my research
will benefit the children.

Not only will they receive an
effective treatment schedule

in the management of their stuttering,

but we will stop the stuttering
before it advances,

ao that each child will have the equal
opportunity to speak in public events

like TEDxNewy.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)