The Lidcombe Program is a behavioral treatment for children who stutter who are younger than 7 years. It may be suitable for some older children. (ages 8 to 9 with modifications).
The Lidcombe Program has two stages.
During Stage 1, the parent conducts the treatment each day and the parent and child attend the speech clinic or via tele health once a week. This continues until stuttering either is gone or reaches an extremely low level. The program time varies but it can take up to five months.
Stage 2 of the program – or maintenance starts at this time and lasts approximately three months. The aim of Stage 2 is to keep stuttering from returning.
The use of parent feedback during Stage 2 is reduced, as is the number of clinic visits, providing that stuttering remains at the low level it was at the start of Stage 2.
This maintenance part of the program is essential because it is well known that stuttering may reappear after a successful treatment. All children and families are different, and the speech-language pathologist takes this into account when supervising the treatment.