TreatPaCS = Treatment for Preschool Age Children Who Stutter

Stuttering, Developmental Clinical Trial

— TreatPaCS  

Official title:

Treatment for Preschool Age Children Who Stutter: A Randomised, Multicentre, Non-inferiority Parallel Group Pragmatic Trial With Mini-KIDS, the Social Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and the Lidcombe Program With 249 Children

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT05185726
• Other study ID #: M-OHC-210048
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: April 1, 2022
• Est. completion date: November 1, 2025

Study information

• Verified date: November 2022
• Source: Thomas More University of Applied Sciences
• Contact: Sabine Van Eerdenbrugh, Dr
• Phone: +3234324040
• Email: sabine.vaneerdenbrugh[@]thomasmore.be
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Treatment for preschool age children who stutter: a randomised, multicentre, non-inferiority parallel group pragmatic trial with Mini-KIDS, the social cognitive behaviour therapy and the Lidcombe Program with 249 children

Description:

Three treatment approaches for preschool age children who stutter are delivered and %Syllables Stuttered at 18 months post-randomisation of the three arms are compared .

Mini-KIDS is a direct treatment based on principles of stuttering modification, with pseudo-stuttering, that is, deliberate stuttering, as one of the main components. The program for 4-6-year old children consists of four stages: Stage 1 = desensitization, Stage 2 = modification, Stage 3 = identification and Stage 4 = generalization. The program for 2-4-year old children does not include stage 3. Speech therapist and parent(s) are the speech model for the child. They add normal dysfluencies to their speech. Later on in treatment and if necessary, children learn to recognise and alter their stuttering moments.

The social cognitive behaviour therapy contains 5 treatment phases: (1) conditioning speaking activities, (2) cognitive training focused on emotions, (3) cognitive training focused on cognitions, (4) emotional training and (5) skill training (Boey, 2010). This treatment is not directed at the speech of the children, but rather at the cognitive and emotional aspects that surround the stuttering.

The Lidcombe Program (LP) is an operant program that directly provides verbal feedback to the child's stutter-free speech (mainly) and the child's stuttering (occasionally). The program comprises two stages: Stage 1 in which (near) zero levels of stuttering are achieved and Stage 2 in which the achieved (near) zero levels of stuttering are maintained for a long period of time. The LP usually takes between 11 to 23 (60-minute) treatment sessions to achieve the goals of Stage 1, i. e. (near) zero levels of stuttering.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 249
• Est. completion date: November 1, 2025
• Est. primary completion date: April 1, 2025
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 24 Months to 78 Months

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

Preschool age children must

• stutter (identified by the Speech-Language Therapist)

• be aged between 2 - 6.5 years

• have normal hearing reported by the parent(s)

• have, if bilingual, a parent who speaks a language that the SLT understands and speaks to allow clear communication

• have at least one parent agreeing to be intensively involved in treatment and knowing that s/he will implement treatment at home

• have at least one parent who is willing and able to videorecord his/her child regularly

Exclusion Criteria:

• have a syndrome such as Down Syndrome.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Stuttering
• Stuttering, Developmental

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Lidcombe Program
The LP consists of Stage 1 and Stage 2. Stage 1 aims at reducing the stuttering of the PCWS to (near) zero levels of stuttering. During stage 1, parents learn to provide verbal contingencies during daily, 10-minute practice sessions with their PCWS. During Stage 1, treatment sessions are scheduled weekly. When the child has typical scores of 0 and 1 on the SR-scale with more 0s than 1s per week for three consecutive weeks, and the stuttering is rated as 0 or 1 during the treatment session, the child can proceed to stage 2. The maintenance phase starts when the stuttering is reduced to (near) zero stuttering and parents are able to implement the practice sessions when it is necessary (when stuttering relapses). Treatment sessions to monitor if achieved goals are maintained are scheduled with an interval of 2, 2, 4, 4, 8, 8 and 16 weeks.
• Mini-KIDS
Mini-KIDS for 4-6-year old PCWS consists of four stages: Stage 1 = desensitization, Stage 2 = identification, Stage 3 = modification and Stage 4 = generalization. The program for 2-4-year old child does not include stage 2. SLT and parent(s) are the speech model for the child. They add normal disfluencies and pseudo-stuttering to their speech at first to make sure the child dares to stutter and the child as well as the parent(s) are desensitized for it. Later on in treatment and if necessary, child learn to recognise and alter their stuttering moments. The maintenance phase starts when the child and parent(s) achieved the goals of Stage 4. Usually the stuttering is reduced to (near) zero stuttering. Treatment sessions to monitor if achieved goals are maintained are scheduled with an interval of 2, 2, 4, 4, 8, 8 and 16 weeks.
• Social Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
A parent training is organised for parents with children who stutters who receive SCBT. The parent training exists of 10 one-hour group evening sessions for parents to discuss and offer education topics about what stuttering is, how stuttering looks like, ... The program is delivered in 5 phases and each phase takes as long as is necessary for the PCWS (variable): (1) conditioning speaking activities, (2) cognitive training focused on emotions, (3) cognitive training focused on cognitions, (4) emotional training and (5) skill training. The maintenance phase starts when the child and parent(s) achieved the goals of the 5 phases. During the maintenance sessions, the SLT asks the parent(s) to report about the child and observes the speech of the child.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Belgium	Sabine Van Eerdenbrugh	Antwerpen	Belgie

Sponsors (4)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Thomas More University of Applied Sciences	Artevelde University of Applied Sciences, Universiteit Antwerpen, University of Liege

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Belgium, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	% of Syllables Stuttered (%SS)	The %SS at 18 months post-randomisation will be determined in two video samples (at home and in the treatment session) and the average will be used. They will be conpared between the 3 programs.	18 months post-randomisation
Secondary	Severity rating of the stuttering	The severity rating of the stuttering will be averaged over home and treatment session and will be compared between the 3 programs	3-, 6-, 9-, 12-, 18-months and 2- and 5-year post-randomisation
Secondary	Speech attitude (Kiddy CAT) scores	Score on the KiddyCAT will be compared between the 3 programs	18-months post-randomisation
Secondary	Score on Quality of life questionnaire	Score on the EQ-5D-Y-proxy 2 will be compared between the 3 programs	at 18-months, 2- and 5-years post-randomisation
Secondary	Score on Impact of Stuttering on Parents and Preschooler (ISPP) questionnaire	Score on the ISPP will be compared between the 3 programs	at 18-months post-randomisation
Secondary	% of Syllables Stuttered (%SS)	The %SS will be determined in two video samples (at home and in the treatment session) and the average will be used. They will be conpared between the 3 programs.	3-, 6-, 9-, 12-months and 2- and 5-year post-randomisation
Secondary	Treatment duration (number of hours)	Treatment duration will be calculated in number of hours	Through study completion, on average 9 months
Secondary	Treatment duration (number of weeks)	Treatment duration will be calculated in number of weeks	Through study completion, on average 9 months
Secondary	Treatment duration (number of sessions)	Treatment duration will be calculated in number of weeks	Through study completion, on average 9 months