I am absolutely delighted to introduce this issue of Seminars in Speech and Language, guest edited by Professor J. Scott Yaruss. This issue, the first of two in a series, focuses on two timely and interrelated topics: effective treatment of childhood stuttering, and the specific challenges of conducting speech-language assessment and intervention in the school setting. This second topic is in fact the theme of the second pediatric issue of Seminars, guest edited by Kathy Whitmire, to be released in 2003.
The articles in this volume provide the groundwork for more specialized topics to be discussed in the second issue in the series. In this volume, the emphasis is selecting the basic goals and strategies for effective fluency intervention. The articles are grounded in an opening set of papers that place fluency intervention in the school context. Challenges and potential solutions are discussed by Yaruss and by Erin Dyer Olson and Patti Bohlman, including how SLPs can place fluency treatment within the mandates of IDEA '97. Michael Susca follows with an overview of the major concerns in diagnosing the full range of behaviors, emotions, and reactions that require attention in qualifying children for services and in establishing the basis for an intervention plan. Vivian Sisskin follows this with a discussion of how to use the problem areas identified during assessment as the basis for therapy planning and provides examples of potential therapy targets and their incorporation into the therapy plan. The next two articles review two major approaches to stuttering therapy across many settings. Anne Bothe first provides a tutorial on approaches to speech modification, surveying a range of treatments that have been shown to be effective in reducing moments of stuttering in children. She also discusses the particular challenges of conducting such treatments in the school setting and offers some potential solutions. Dale F. Williams and Peter M. Dugan follow with an overview of the targets of stuttering modification therapy and its implementation in the schools. Because of the particular nature of this approach to therapy, emphasis is placed on how SLPs can write clear and measurable IEP goals and measure their achievement within this framework, as well as using group therapy, parents, and teachers as vehicles for conducting therapy and practice and assessing progress. As with other communication disorders, treatment of very specific behavioral symptoms may mask larger problems that students have with successful communication with their peers and relevant adults in the environment. Yaruss and Nina A. Reardon integrate material from the previous two chapters and extend their analysis of best practices to the goals of helping the child achieve comfortable and effective communication skills. The last two chapters address issues less often addressed in guiding therapy for childhood stuttering. William P. Murphy and Robert W. Quesal take a hard look at the problems of bullying and teasing that are so commonly experienced by this population of children. They offer very specific suggestions for teaching appropriate responses to such behaviors, and for educating teachers and peers to recognize and remedy the problem. Finally, Nina A. Reardon and Lee Reeves discuss how support and self-help groups can provide a helpful adjunct to therapy conduced in the schools. They provide a resource list of support organizations and describe how the work of such organizations can benefit children who stutter and their families, as well as the school-based SLP.
A lot of hard work, talent, and heart has gone into these articles, all of which were authored by clinicians and researchers with a strong commitment to improving the quality of care for children who stutter. I am indebted to Scott Yaruss for his thoughtful selection of topics and authors and to all the authors for their excellent contributions. I am positive that you will find this volume to be an indispensable addition to your clinical references. Stay tuned; part two of this series will arrive in your next pediatric issue of Seminars, the first issue of 2003!
