A Preliminary Investigation: Creative Theater and Fluency Therapy with Children

Debra Kottage-Perrotto, Charleen Bloom and Donna Cooperman

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the influence of creative theater on the stuttering severity and communication attitudes of children who stutter. The program introduced creative theater as a supplement to Synergistic Fluency Therapy (Bloom & Cooperman, 1999) and examined changes in: frequency of dysfluencies; secondary behaviors; and measures of self-esteem, locus of control, assertiveness, communication apprehension/attitude, and perception of communicative competence. Results indicated that implementation of the program corresponded to a decrease in stuttering severity in three of four subjects. Each subject also evidenced improvement in at least one measure of communication attitudes and feelings.