Effect of an Auditory Temporal Training Program on Speech Fluency of Children with Developmental Stuttering

OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to investigate the effect of a temporal processing-based auditory training program on alleviating stuttering severity in children diagnosed with auditory temporal processing disorders. MATERIALS & METHODS: Thirty-one children with stuttering diagnosed with auditory temporal processing disorders participated in this study (intervention group: 17 participants between seven to 12 years old; control group: 14 participants between eight to 12 years old). The auditory temporal processing test and Stuttering Severity Instrument-3 (SSI-3) were examined before/after 12 sessions (nearly 540 minutes) of training and three months following the conclusion of the intervention. RESULTS: According to the results, auditory temporal processing improved significantly in the intervention group after temporal processing-based auditory training. Besides, the differences between the intervention and control groups were significant (P<0.05). The improvement of auditory temporal processing skills remained stable in the post-training evaluation after three months (P>0.05). Although the SSI-3 score was somewhat improved in the intervention group, no significant difference was found between the two groups (P=0.984). CONCLUSION: The findings revealed that auditory temporal processing training acted as a complementary therapy alleviating the stuttering severity of children who stutter with auditory temporal processing disorders to some extent