| Summary: | Background: Parent-child interaction therapy (pCll) is one approach that is used in the management of stuttering in young children. However, there is little empirical evidence to support it. This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of the programme with young children who stammer. Method: This is a replicated single subject study. Children aged under 5;0 years, who had been stuttering for longer than 12 months were recruited to the study and randomly allocated to a treatment or to a no treatment control condition. Six children who received therapy, submitted video recorded speech samples made while playing at home with a parent once a week for six weeks before therapy, during clinic based therapy, during home based therapy and six weeks prior to the six month post therapy review. Four children who did not receive intervention completed recordings to coincide with the first and last phases. Language was assessed at the start and end of the study and a parent questionnaire administered. Stuttering frequency was analysed using cusum to determine whether any change was outside the range of variability observed during the baseline phase. Results: Results demonstrated that four ofthe six children who received therapy made progress that could be associated with therapy. The remaining two made progress over the duration ofthe study. One child in the control condition significantly reduced his stammering over the study. Children who received therapy and who began with above average expressive language skills reduced their scores relative to their age over the study. Parents of those who received therapy rated the stuttering as having less impact on them and as feeling more confident in managing the stuttering. Conclusions: PCIT can be effective in reducing stuttering frequency in young children. Hypotheses about the possible link between language and fluency are discussed.
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