Research trends on the longitudinal studies of childhood stuttering [말더듬아동 종단연구에 관한 문헌연구]

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to review research trends for longitudinal studies of children who stutter (CWS) and to provide evidence-based directions for longitudinal research and Smart Device for Utterance Analysis (SDUA) application. Methods: Included articles were published 1990-2018 in domestic journals (Communication & Sciences Disorders and Journal of Speech-Language & Hearing Disorders) and international journals (Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research and Journal of Fluency Disorders). Results: Twenty-eight articles that met the criteria were chosen. The results showed that 12 articles (42%) compared CWS with CWNS (children who do not stutter), or a CWS recovery group with a persistence group. Eight articles (29%) studied treatment and 8 articles (29%) identified characteristics of CWS. In terms of participants, 3 articles (11%) included children under 1 years old, and 25 articles (89%) included children between the ages of 2 and 6. In regards to the method of research, the majority of treatment-comparison research examined the between group differences, and characteristic research examined both between and within group differences. In domestic articles, the research was mostly conducted over 18 months, and in international articles, the research was mostly conducted for 24months. In treatment-comparison research, between 11 and 20 participants were included in domestic articles, and between 21 and 50 participants in international articles. Characteristics research included over 100 participants (44%). The dependent variables mostly were examined utterance analysis for change. Conclusion: The majority of longitudinal studies measured more than two dependent variables for more than 6 months of research. This study demonstrated that all research was following evidence-based treatment. The SDUA application was found to measure the child's language and speech characteristics, parental characteristics, and to collect and analyze longitudinal data. © 2019 Korean Academy of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.