Investigating factors related to the effects of time-out on stuttering in adults.

Abstract

Investigating factors related to the effects of time-out on stuttering in adultsAuthors: Diane E. Franklin a; Catherine L. Taylor b; Neville W. Hennessey a; Janet M. Beilby aAffiliations: a School of Psychology, Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia b Centre for Developmental Health, Curtin University of Technology, and Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Western AustraliaDOI: 10.1080/13682820701449893Publication Frequency: 6 issues per yearPublished in: journal International Journal of Language & Communication DisordersFirst Published on: 11 December 2007Subjects: Rehabilitation; Speech Therapy;Formats available: HTML (English) : PDF (English)Article Requests: Order Reprints : Request Permissions Purchase Article: US$35.00 - buy now buy now add to cart buy now [ show other buying options ] purchase type customer type online access payment method price Single Article Purchase Any 3 days credit card US$35.00 buy now buy now add to cart add to cart Issue Purchase Any permanent credit card US$133.29 buy now buy now add to cart add to cart If you would like to pay in any other currency please see the purchasing help pages for more information. * Sign In Sign In * Online Sample Online SampleAbstractBackground: Response-contingent time-out has been shown to be an effective technique for enhancing fluency in people who stutter. However, the factors that determine individual responsiveness to time-out are not well understood.Aims: The study investigated the effectiveness of using response-contingent time-out to reduce stuttering frequency in adults who stutter. In addition, it investigated the predictive value of participants' stutter severity, age, previous treatment history, and type of stutter on the responsiveness to time-out conditioning.Methods & Procedures: Sixty people who stutter participated in the study. Half were exposed to time-out following each moment of stuttering over a 40-min period, the remaining participants acted as controls.Outcomes & Results: Results showed that individuals who stutter are highly responsive to time-out, and that the participants with a more severe stutter responded better than those with a mild stutter. To a lesser degree, previous treatment and speech rate also influenced treatment success. Age and type of stutter did not, although the proportion of repetition types of stutters increased over the experiment conditions, with prolongations and blocks decreasing, for the treatment group.Conclusions: This simple operant conditioning treatment method is effective in reducing stuttering. Individuals respond to time-out regardless of their age, type of stutter, stuttering severity or treatment history, thus it is a treatment methodology potentially suitable for all clients. This study investigated initial responsiveness to time-out; therefore, further research is necessary to determine the durability of fluency over time.Keywords: Stuttering; Stammering; time-out; fluency; disorders; adults; operant conditioningview references (36)