Improving Speech Fluency and Communicative Activity in Children Who Stutter Aged 5–7 Years Through Didactic Games: An Experimental–Control Study (EG/CG)

Abstract

            Developmental stuttering in preschool children is often accompanied by reduced communicative activity, emotional tension, and social-adaptive difficulties. A structured, motivating intervention that integrates speech-technique training with didactic games may strengthen speech fluency-related functioning and increase children’s participation in communication. To evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated didactic game–based program (combined with breathing, rhythm–tempo, and articulation coordination techniques) for improving speech fluency and communicative activity in preschool children who stutter.
A controlled experimental study was conducted in Tashkent with 24 children aged 5–7 years who stutter, allocated into an experimental group (EG, n=12) and a control group (CG, n=12). Outcomes were assessed at baseline, interim, and final stages across nine functional domains using a three-level rating scale and summarized as n (%). Statistical processing was performed in SPSS 25.0. The experimental group demonstrated a consistent shift from low to moderate and partially stable levels across key domains, whereas the control group showed limited change. The integrated didactic-games intervention was associated with an average increase of approximately 35% in speech-development indicators and approximately 40% in communicative activity. Integrating didactic games with core speech-technique training appears to be an effective, age-appropriate approach for enhancing speech fluency-related functioning and increasing communicative engagement in preschool children who stutter in preschool education settings.