A Phenomenological Study Exploring the Perceptions of Parents and Children Participating in the Lidcombe Program for Early Stuttering in Turkiye.

The sample was small and purposive: eight parents and six children from Ankara, all after stage 1 of the Lidcombe Program, so themes may not fit other families or cultures. The study reports perceptions, not measured fluency or treatment outcomes; it did not compare the Lidcombe Program with another treatment. The first author was an LP-certified speech-language therapist who had treated the families and conducted the interviews, and the paper states this could introduce confirmation bias. Two parents did not consent to their children being interviewed because their children no longer stuttered, so the child sample may not include children with very good perceived response. The analysis did not use bracketing or inter-coder reliability, and the authors say qualitative data alone may not fully reflect therapy outcomes.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest, and the study had no sponsor or funder. The paper separately notes that the first author was an LP-certified speech-language therapist and the families' treating therapist, which the authors acknowledge could bias interpretation.

Do not read the parents' reports that the Lidcombe Program improved their children's speech as proof that it works. The study asked eight parents and six children about their perceptions after stage 1; it had no comparison group, no measured outcome analysis, and the interviewer was the treating therapist.