ACQ Vol 12 No 3 2010

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130 ACQ Volume 12, Number 3 2010 ACQuiring knowledge in speech, language and hearing
participating in the trial, living at various locations around
Australia. To date, all three children have met Lidcombe
Program treatment benchmark improvements since starting
treatment over the web.
It is anticipated that the results of this Phase I trial will
justify a randomised controlled trial of the webcam and
traditional Lidcombe Program methods. Plans are underway
to conduct this trial at La Trobe University in Melbourne.
We anticipate disseminating the results of the Phase I
trial through conference presentations and publications in
professional journals in the near future.
References
Carey, B., O’Brian, S., Onslow, M., Block, S., Jones, M., &
Packman, A. (2010) Randomized controlled non-inferiority
trial of a telehealth treatment for chronic stuttering: The
Camperdown Program. International Journal of Language
and Communication Disorders , 45 , 108–120.
Hill, A., Theodoros, D., Russell, T., & Ward, E. (2009).
Using telerehabilitation to assess apraxia of speech in adults.
International Journal of Language and Communication
Disorders, 44(5), 731–747.
Jones, M., Onslow, M., Packman, A., Williams, S.,
Ormond, T., Schwarz, T., & Gebski, V. (2005). Randomised
controlled trial of the Lidcombe Program for early stuttering
intervention. British Medical Journal , 331, 659–661.
Lewis, C., Packman, A., Onslow, M., Simpson, J. A., &
Jones, M. (2008). A Phase II trial of telehealth delivery of the
Lidcombe Program of Early Stuttering Intervention. American
Journal of Speech Language Pathology, 17, 139–149.
Onslow, M., Jones, M., Menzies, R., O’Brian, S., &
Packman, A. (in press). Stuttering. In P. Sturmey & M. Hersen
(Eds.), Handbook of evidence-based practice in clinical
psychology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Theodoros, D. (2008) Telerehabilitation for service delivery
in speech-language pathology. Journal of Telemedicine and
Telecare,14, 221–224.
Theodoros, D., Constantinescu, G., Russell, T.,
Ward, E., Wilson, S., & Wootton, R. (2006). Treating the
speech disorder in Parkinson’s disease online. Journal of
Telemedicine and Telecare, 12 (Suppl. 3) , 88–91.
treatment for young children who stutter. Essential
components of the treatment include parents or carers
delivering verbal contingencies for stuttered and stutter-free
speech in the child’s everyday environment. Measurement of
stuttering is also a critical part of the program. Parents learn
how to do the treatment during weekly consultations with a
speech pathologist. The Lidcombe Program is conducted in
two stages. During stage 1, stuttering is either eliminated or
reduced to an extremely low level. The aim of stage 2 is to
keep stuttering away while the child and parent attend the
clinic less frequently and treatment is gradually withdrawn.
Correspondence to:
Kylie Farnsworth
Speech Pathologist / Research Assistant
Language and Literacy Group, Healthy Development Theme
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, The Royal Children’s Hospital,
Flemington Road, Parkville Victoria 3052 Australia
phone: +613 9345 47520; fax: +613 9345 7041
email:
URL:
During the past 15 years, independently replicated clinical
trials have established evidence for the efficacy of this
treatment. The Lidcombe Program has emerged as the
evidence based, best practice treatment for early stuttering
(Onslow, Jones, Menzies, O’Brian, & Packman, in press;
Jones, et al, 2005). In a recent clinical trial, researchers
adapted the program for delivery over the telephone (Lewis
et al, 2008). Although the results of this trial showed clinically
significant reductions in stuttering, these gains required
around three times more resources than the standard
delivery.
Researchers at the Australian Stuttering Research
Centre (Sydney) and the Murdoch Childrens Research
Institute (Melbourne) are conducting a Phase I trial of the
Lidcombe Program using webcam as an alternative to
standard face-to-face clinic visits for preschool children
who stutter. Families receive the treatment at home and do
not attend the clinic. They require access to a computer
with suitable broadband internet connection, webcam and
audio software. The software application utilised in this
trial is Skype, as it allows the users to make voice calls
and participate in videoconferencing over the internet for
free. The main concepts of the Lidcombe Program are
unchanged. As noted above, the families have weekly
consultations with the speech pathologist, treatment is
delivered by parents and the stage 1 and 2 criteria remain
the same. The weekly sessions themselves are conducted
in much the same way as they are in the traditional clinic
setting, though the family’s toys and resources are employed
rather than the clinician’s. Three families are currently
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