My daughter has developed a stutter, she is 4.5 years old and has become quite debilitating. She is frequently distressed and frustrated. We have been seeing a speechie the last 5 weeks for it but in that time she has gotten worse, we are currently doing the lidcombe program.
So for those of you who stutter or have children who stutter:
How long did it take in therapy for the stutter to go?
Did it go away for good or did it come back?
Is there anything else I should/could be doing?
My understanding is that lidcombe program is supposed to be evidence based. So you are in good hands. Five weeks isn't long, it's still early days and she may be more anxious at the moment. That can make things worse to start with. it's hard to see you LO struggling xoxox
My son worked with a speechie on two separate occasions for stuttering. First time he was probably 3 and half and the second time probably 5. I'd say it took us about two-3 months to notice much difference. That was seeing her fortnightly and doing the homework for about 20 minutes each day picking up in it through the day. It did come back and we worked through it again. He's 8 now and his speech is fine and you'd never know. It did take a long time to see results. We called it smooth talking and if/when he didn't stutter we would praise it (great smooth talking/ those words came out really smooth well done) and lots of encouraging too slow down. I think a lot of my sons stuttering was caused by anxiety so we tried really hard to keep things calm for him and once he noticed he was getting smoother he came along quite quickly. Just keep at it - she'll get there soon.
The lidcombe program is the gold standard for stuttering in children. Follow it as strictly as you can. Im children under ~11 we can cure stuttering via the lidcombe program. From that age onwards stuttering becomes a management issue and cannot be cured. Good luck
Bookmarks