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Speech Therapists also known as Speech-Language Pathologists
(SLP’S), assess, diagnose, treat and help to prevent
speech, language, cognitive, communication, voice,
swallowing, fluency and other related disorders.
Patients who have suffered cerebrovascular accident
(stroke) may have speech, communication and swallowing
difficulties.
Patient’s with damage
to the nervous system such as, Stroke, Parkinson’s
disease, Multiple Sclerosis,
Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy
and Alzheimer’s disease may suffer dysphagia (swallowing
disorder ) and /or aphasia (language disorder).
Other patients that can benefit from Speech Therapy
include victims of traumatic brain injury, brain
tumor, spinal cord injury, gun shot wound, paralysis,
cardiopulmonary
distress, cancer in the mouth, throat or esophagus,
surgery involving the head and neck and other
sources of brain damage.
For patients with dysphagia a Speech-Language Pathologist:
- will take a careful history of medical conditions
and symptoms
- will look at the strength and movement of the muscles
involved in swallowing
- will observe feeding to see posture, behavior and
oral movements during eating and drinking
- perform special tests to evaluate swallowing.
With the above information a Speech-Language Pathologist
may recommend:
- Exercises, positions or strategies to help swallow
more effectively
- Specific food and liquid textures that are easier and
safer to swallow
Our Speech-Language Pathologists have been successful
in weaning patients off tube feeding.
For patients with aphasia a Speech-Language Pathologist
can help with:
- Recognizing Speech characteristics
- Speech Comprehension
- Verbal expression
- Reading comprehension
- Written expressions
- Problem solving and memory
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