Category Archives: Stage 1

What is the expected number of visits to end Stage 1 and begin Stage 2?

According to publications up until June 2015, a median of 16 visits is required for children to attain Stage 2 criteria and there is around one-third reduction of median parent severity rating scores after four weeks of treatment. Severity of stuttering is a predicting factor with, children who have more severe stuttering typically taking longer to reach Stage 2 than children with mild stuttering.

Treatment times for individual speech-language pathologists will vary; the range of medians in the publications above is 11–23. It is recommended that these figures be used as broad guidelines for number of Stage 1 visits rather than being used as professional benchmarks. They may be useful guidelines to alert speech-language pathologist when a child’s progress may not be typical of Lidcombe Program caseloads. Such situations commonly prompt speech-language pathologist to consult with colleagues.