Early Stuttering and the Vmodel

Abstract

Recent publicity about the effectiveness of early intervention for stuttering has resulted in many parents bringing their children for treatment very soon after the onset of the condition. The fact that stuttering is transient in many children raises the question of whether to intervene immediately. However, we do not know in the early stages of the condition which children will recover withtout treatment and which ones will develop chronic stuttering. The only known predictor of transience is gender, with more girls than boys recovering without intervention. In the absence of other empirical evidence, we have drawn on a model of stuttering known as the variability model, or Vmodel, in constructing guidelines for early intervention. This model explains the nature of early stuttering by linking the onset of the disorder to the development of variable syllabic stress. The implications of the Vmodel for intervention in early stuttering are discussed.