ABSTRACT
Echoing throughout recent literature on therapy for stuttering comes the sad refrain that, while short-term changes can be brought about through a wide variety of methods, maintenance of these changes over time is still far from satisfactory. This chapter considers both behavioural and psychological procedures which seem to facilitate maintenance and factors which appear to relate to relapse. It would seem from the focus so far on achieving and maintaining changes in speech behaviour that considerable therapy time, continuous practice and vigilance are the major requirements for a speaker to succeed. Interestingly, there was no significant correlation between months in maintenance and permanence of fluency in either group. It is W.H. Perkins who most firmly addresses the question of the ‘cost-effectiveness’ of the need for continuous work on fluency and the constant monitoring involved.
