Yaruss, Coleman, and Hammer (2006): an exemplar of non-evidence-based practice in stuttering treatment.
OBJECTIVE
This letter is a response to a recent report by J. S. Yaruss, C. Coleman, and D. Hammer (2006) that described a treatment program for preschool children who stutter.


CONCLUSIONS
Problems with the Yaruss et al. study fall into four domains: (a) failure to provide clinicians with replicable procedures, (b) failure to collect valid and reliable speech performance data, (c) failure to control for predictable improvement in children who have been stuttering for less than 15 months, and (d) the advocacy of procedures for which there is no credible research evidence. The claims made for the efficacy of this treatment are problematic and essentially violate the principles of evidence-based practice as recommended by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).
Ingham
Roger J
RJ
D002675:Child, Preschool; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007808:Language Therapy; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013342:Stuttering / Q000628:therapy*