The Lidcombe Program and fluency-shaping techniques are two strategies used to treat stuttering. These two types of treatment strategies may be combined to increase their therapeutic effectiveness, all depending on the child’s needs. If needed, a treatment strategy aimed at reducing negative attitudes and emotions associated to stuttering can be provided by the speech-language pathologist in conjunction with a psychologist.
The Lidcombe Program
The Lidcombe Program is a behavioral treatment strategy that uses positive and negative reinforcement to enhance speech fluency. Developed in Australia, it is widely used in Quebec by speech-language pathologists to treat stuttering disorders in preschool- and school-aged children. This treatment requires that parents be greatly involved in implementing it because it is largely practiced at home, for about 10 minutes a day. Given that the treatment takes place mostly at home, the generalization of speech fluency on a day-to-day basis is one of the advantages of this approach. During weekly therapy sessions, the speech-language pathologist coaches the parents on how to implement the treatment and evaluates the child’s progress.
Fluency-shaping techniques
This treatment approach is generally used with schooled-aged children and teenagers. It is aimed at helping the child or teenager modify the way in which they produce speech so that it becomes more fluid. This treatment approach consists in teaching the child or teenager strategies during speech therapy sessions with the goal of applying them in their daily life to improve their flow of speech. As part of the treatment, the child or teenager must perform daily fluency-shaping exercises that they must then transfer and generalize in their daily life.