Why early intervention is essential in preschool age children who stutter : a systematic review

Background: For long, a wait-and-see approach was implemented for preschool age children who started to stutter. The last two decades, however, research indicated more and more that this is not the most appropriate action. Speech pathologists specialised in stuttering have gained much knowledge about stuttering near onset the past few years. A previous exploratory study showed that primary care professionals have not yet gained all this knowledge. Aims: The aim of this systematic review was to fill the knowledge gaps of primary care professionals by formulating evidence-based information and to provide them to the primary care professionals. Methods: To find evidence-based information for the knowledge that the respondents lack, a systematic literature search was conducted on 24 October 2022 in Cochrane, PubMed and Evidence Maps (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association). Systematic reviews and guidelines of the past decade about stuttering in preschool age children were consulted. Relevant information was selected. Resources were developed and fine-tuned by a focus group. Quality assessments were conducted on all included studies by using the Joanna Briggs Institute tools for systematic reviews and the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE II) for guidelines. Findings are presented on a poster, flyer, website and video. Results: Eight systematic reviews and one guideline met the inclusion criteria and were used to create information materials. Findings are that the cause of stuttering is very complex and influenced by multiple factors. Characteristics of stuttering include repetitions, prolongations, and blocks, but stuttering can also affect social and emotional functioning. It is clear that a wait-and-see approach is not the desired approach anymore. Conclusions: The resources developed in this study can help primary care professionals in identifying stuttering and referring families of young children to a stuttering specialist, to maximize the chance on recovery for the child. A stuttering specialist will decide based on the stuttering characteristics and its development if a family needs advice and active follow-up or if treatment needs to be initiated.

Publication year:2023

Accessibility:Open