Ego-States and Measures of Fluency: Unraveling Connections to Treatment Outcome

William S. Rosenthal, Shannon N. Austermann and Liz Rud

In previous work computational analysis showed that changes in ego-states occur during stuttering therapy, and that these changes are related to treatment outcome. This study extends that investigation by examining the relationship of changes in ego-states, as defined by transactional analysis theory, to changes in fluency rate, types of dysfluencies, concomitant behaviors, and ratings of the success achieved by participants. Regression analysis shows that treatment outcome is significantly related (R=.79) to both ego-state change and change in objective speech measures. A complete understanding of the treatment process cannot be derived solely from objective measures, but must also include psychodynamic constructs.