Research projects

Stuttering in a Multilingual Context

More than half of the world's population is multilingual. Currently, our knowledge of stuttering in multilingual children is based on very limited trial groups. In addition, the diagnostic criteria for stuttering are based on data from monolingual children. Pilot data in multilinguals show that in this group a) significantly more stuttering-like disfluencies occur than considered indicative of stuttering in monolinguals and b) speech therapists have great difficulty discriminating between typical and atypical speech disfluencies. In this research project we will therefore investigate which criteria can best be applied for the assessment of stuttering in multilingual children. Besides we will look into the influence of language dominance and age.

Want to know more?
Contact kurt.eggers@thomasmore.be 

 

Treatment for preschool age children who stutter (TreatPaCS)

TreatPaCS examines whether three treatments for preschoolers who stutter achieve the same results after 18 months. Treatment programmes Mini-KIDS, the social cognitive behavioural therapy (SCBT) and the Lidcombe Programme (LP) are compared. In this study, 249 children are assigned to one of the three treatment groups. Speech therapists trained in these treatments will treat the child and supervise the parent. After 18 months, we will assess the child’s ability to speak and the attitudes of the child and the parent(s) towards their speech. We expect similar results for the 3 programmes. We also compare the number of treatment hours to reach the (near) zero level of stuttering. This is important information for both families and the health care system.

Visit the project website.

Want to know more?
Contact sabine.vaneerdenbrugh@thomasmore.be