Contingency Management and Stuttering in Children

This is a review of the contingency management literature and current related treatment programs for stuttering in childhood: the Lidcombe Program, Gradual Increase in Length and Complexity of Utterance (GILCU), and Prolongation (PS). Treatment efficacy research has shown these treatments to be effective and efficient for children, but there should be control for the estimated 80% spontaneous recovery in children under eight. Unfortunately, these procedures are not generally well accepted or used by the profession of speech-language pathology. It is hoped that the recent interest in evidence-based practice will motivate speech-language pathologists to use these validated procedures.