PURPOSE: To determine the contribution of short-term familiar counseling in the speech fluency of children who stutter. METHODS: Participants were 20 dyads of child who stutters and a family member. Procedures were carried out in three stages: assessment of fluency, familiar counseling, and reassessment of fluency. The initial assessment of fluency was performed in order to characterize the type and frequency of disfluencies produced before counseling. The familiar counseling was held in two sessions, emphasizing the verbal and non-verbal behaviors of family that can promote fluency in children. The reassessment of fluency occurred after thirty days, using the same procedures of the initial assessment. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was applied to measure the significance level between data obtained in the two stages. RESULTS: Regarding typology, comparative analysis of the two assessments showed that, among the six types of stuttering-like-disfluencies (SLD), five had presented reduction, and among the six types of other disfluencies (OD), four had diminished. With regards to the frequency of ruptures, 70% of the children had a reduction in the percentage of discontinuity of speech, and 80% in the total number of stuttering-like disfluencies. CONCLUSION: Familiar counseling sessions favored the fluency promotion in the speech of children who stutter, proving to be relevant in the childhood fluency area.
Stuttering; Child; Counseling; Family
