Connecting stuttering measurement and management: III. Accountable therapy

Abstract

Background: This paper is intended to contribute to the current debate in relation to persistent stuttering and evidence-based clinical practice.

Aims: The paper will describe the authors' intervention framework for persistent stuttering, which is guided by evidence from the fields of stuttering and clinical psychology. It supports the opinion that the components of therapy should be grounded in empirically based theories that offer an explanation for the nature of stuttering, its persistence and its individual complexity. It will argue that the goals of therapy should reflect the client's personal values and experience of stuttering, as well as the knowledge and skills of the therapist.

Main contribution: The paper maintains that therapy for this disorder needs to account for the highly individual nature of the overt and covert dimensions of persistent stuttering and identify the formal and informal methods that measure progress and outcome. Current research and future directions will be touched on briefly.