Whither Prolonged Speech? The Disquieting Evolution of a Stuttering Therapy Procedure

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to some disquieting trends in the management of stuttering by speech pathologists in Australia. These trends mainly relate to the growing exclusive use of prolonged speech, or its many variants, in stuttering therapy — especially in intensive therapy programmes for children. A range of problems and implications associated with this development are discussed, including a consideration of suitable alternative therapies.