Shaping Fluency and Using a Demands and Capacities Model (DCM) Approach With an Elementary School Student Who Stuttered

Abstract

Although speech and language disorder resource rooms appear to provide essential support for elementary school students who stutter, clinical reports that support its efficacy are scant. Therefore, the present article reports the results of an instruction method that combined fluency shaping and a Demands and Capacities Model-based approach (DCM). The study was conducted in a speech and language disorder resource room. The participant was a first-grade elementary school girl who stuttered. She was taught fluency shaping techniques (slow rate, easy onset, and light contact). Attempts were also made to decrease speakers’ motor, language, cognitive, and emotional demands on her. The results indicated that, in 10-minute free conversations, the percentage of phrases stuttered decreased from 73% to 10%, and the duration of her stuttering decreased from 2,078 ms to 788 ms. Her parents’ ratings on the Stuttering Severity Rating Scale of the severity of her stuttering at home decreased from 5 to 3. In addition, her scores on the Communication Attitude Test decreased from 18 to 8. These results suggest that the combination of fluency shaping and the Demands and Capacities Model-based approach may have been effective in improving her speech fluency and her attitude about communication. This procedure may be a viable option for future instruction in speech and language disorder resource rooms.