Speech Therapy
What is speech therapy?
Speech therapy is a type of treatment that focuses on improving the patient’s speech and language skills. It is often used to treat disorders like apraxia, aphasia, cognitive communication disorders, or dysarthria.
Some areas of speech and language which speech therapy helps with include:
- Voice and sound production
- Early language skills
- Fluency
- Comprehension
- Expression
- Clarity
Speech therapy is conducted by a speech therapist, also known as a speech-language pathologist, who diagnoses, assesses, and treats communication problems and speech disorders. Speech therapists may help patients with a variety of needs from children with developmental delays to adults who experienced illness or injury affecting their speech. Additionally, speech therapy can help treat physical problems related to speech, such as difficulty swallowing.
Some exercises involved in speech therapy include:
- Problem-solving
- Memory and organization activities to improve cognitive communication
- Breathing exercises
- Conversational tactics
- Exercises to strengthen oral muscles
How does speech therapy improve healthcare?
Speech therapy is a valuable habilitation service for children and adults with cognitive and communication disorders, or physical speech-related impairments.
Speech-related challenges can significantly affect a patient’s quality of life. Directly resulting from speech impairments, people may have difficulties with comprehension and communication, or may be unable to communicate at all. Indirectly resulting from speech-related problems, people may experience anxiety, low self-esteem, or other mental health issues. By addressing speech-related problems, speech therapy enables patients to noticeably improve their quality of life in a variety of different ways.