Randomised Control Trial of Three Treatments for Adolescent Stutterers

有效的沟通是日常生活中必不可少的，而口吃会削弱这一功能。那些口吃的人可能会发现有效的沟通是不可能的，严重的情况可能会使他们几乎失声。在这种疾病中，临床上显著的焦虑是突出的，近一半的寻求治疗的人被诊断为社交恐惧症的共病。青春期通常被认为是人生的艰难时期，在这个时期，语言障碍的潜在影响可能是毁灭性的。已经有很多针对儿童和成人口吃的治疗方法的研究和开发，已经证明有效的治疗方法适用于这些年龄段。然而，对于如何治疗口吃的青少年，人们知之甚少，也几乎没有研发出针对这个年龄段的最佳治疗方法--S。目前的建议是对最近被证明有希望作为这一年龄段患者的治疗方法的三种治疗方法进行随机对照试验。这项试验将比较(1)在说话过程中涉及生物反馈肌肉活动的治疗，(2)涉及说话过程中声箱活动的生物反馈的治疗，以及(3)以新的言语模式训练说话者的标准治疗的变体。对照组不接受任何治疗。在受试者被随机分配到治疗组或对照组后，试验持续12个月。受试者的语言将在诊所和日常生活中的各种情况下进行评估。主要的结果指标将是音节结巴的百分比，次要指标将是治疗所需的时间以及患者在治疗后听起来有多自然。在试验结束时，对照组的受试者将接受被证明是最有效的治疗。

Effective communication is an essential of everyday life, and stuttering impairs this function. Those who stutter may find effective communication impossible, and severe cases may be rendered almost mute. Clinically significant anxiety figures prominently in the disorder with almost half of those seeking treatment warranting a comorbid diagnosis of social phobia. The adolescent years are generally regarded as a difficult time of life, at which time the potential effects of disfigured speech can be devastating. There has been much research and development of treatments for children and adults who stutter, proven effective treatments are available for those age groups. However, little is known about how to treat adolescents who stutter, and there has been little research and development to find the best treatment-s for this age group. The present proposal is for a randomised, controlled trial of three treatments that have been shown recently to have promise as treatment methods for this age group of patients. The trial will compare (1) a treatment that involves biofeedback muscle activity during speech, (2) a treatment that involves biofeedback of voice box activity during speech, and (3) a variant of a standard treatment that trains the speaker in a new speech pattern. The control group will receive no treatment. The trial extends for a period of 12 months after the subjects are randomly allocated to a treatment group or a control group. The subjects' speech will be assessed in a variety of situations in the clinic and during everyday life. The prime outcome measure will be percentage of syllables stuttered, and secondary measures will be the time required for treatment and how natural the patients sound after treatment. At the conclusion of the trial, the subjects in the control group will be given the treatment that was shown to be most effective.