Telepractice in School-age Children Who Stutter: A Controlled Before and After Study to Evaluate the Efficacy of MIDA-SP

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a general reorganization of rehabilitation services in Italy. The lockdown in Italy led to the use of telepractice for the delivery of speech therapy, including stuttering. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the MIDA-SP (Tomaiuoli et al., 2012), delivered online for school-age children who stutter. A non-randomized controlled pre- and post-treatment study included an experimental group (11 children) receiving a telepractice adaptation of MIDA-SP and a historical control group (11 children) receiving in-person MIDA-SP. Both groups had been assessed with SSI-4 and OASES-S pre- and post-treatment. No statistically significant differences were found between the two modes of delivery. These findings suggest that MIDA-SP treatment delivered via telepractice is effective for school-age children who stutter.