What you thought Speech Therapy is all about?

"Not knowing is not a mistake, but not willing to know is"   

(In the general public)

Speech Therapy is - 

• for people who can not hear (deaf as it is called)
• for people who can not speak (generally known as dumb - the extreme) 
• for an hour every day or thrice a week
• a table chair and confined to a room
• making the person say aaa iii uuu
• showing pictures of common items
• will work if nothing else works
• is possible at any time from the onset of the problem
• correction of tongue, and voice box

Speech Therapist is - 

• for teaching sign language
• for eternal care of individuals with Speech-Language Disorders
• for treating stammering
• for teaching muscle exercises to individuals with communication problems speak normally

Speech Therapist will - 

• make all the individual speak normally 
• use medicines and surgical approaches such that the individual will learn language

                 Well, either it is...... 

Less information 

or 

Wrong assumption 

                                                   .....that is around 

There is more to it and the term Speech Therapy and Speech Therapist will be addressed as Speech-Language Therapy and Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) respectively. There is a reason to it and it is convincing, if anyone wants to hear. 

Follow the blog Speech Pathology, India for answers/ explanations and more information.  

Click here to know more about the world trends

What are Language Deficits?

Language problems commonly seen BUT IGNORED - 

How much do you know about SPEECH THERAPY?

• Speech Therapy
• Language Therapy
• Naming therapy
• Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT)
• Swallowing Therapy
• Oro-motor Therapy
• Cognitive Linguistic Therapy
• Reading and Writing Therapy
• Coma Stimulation
• Recovery Monitoring
• AAC Therapy
• Counselling 

Speech Therapy is a form of therapy that is confined to working with Neurophysiological and psychological basis articulation, resonation, prosody, and phonation (voice); of Speech Production in terms of Intelligibility of speech (clarity of speech). 

Language Therapy is a form of therapy that is confined to working with Neurophysiological and psychological basis of Language comprehension and expression through various modes. The modes may be verbal/oral, Auditory-visual/written, visual/gestural, or multi-model.

Naming Therapy is a variation of Language Therapy to improve the naming skill. This earns a distinct recognition as there are disorders in which only semantics or naming will be affected. 

Auditory Verbal Therpay is a variation of Speech-Language therapy focusing on auditory stimulation in improving hearing and language skills. 

Swallowing Therapy is a form of therapy that is related to working with Neurophysiological basis of chewing and swallowing skills for adequate nutrition and pleasure.

Oro-motor therapy  is a variation of Speech Therapy to strengthen the oro-motor structures to support the speech output. 

Cognitive-Linguistic Therapy is a variation of Language Therapy which focuses on Linguistic approach to cognitive functioning in functional and skill based activities. It is not confined to a set of skills but it involves various levels and entities.

Reading and Writing Therapy is a variation of Cognitive-Linguistic Therapy focused on reading and writing skills in academic or professional rehabilitation. 

Coma Stimulation is a form of basic therapy variation which focuses on reorientation of the individuals senses (auditory, visual, olfactory, Hand-motoric memory - in conjunction with Occupational Therapist) to the environment. 

Recovery Monitoring is a process of early therapy to monitor the individuals functional recovery in Speech, Language, Swallowing, and Cognitive-linguistic functioning which might determine the efficient communication skills. 

AAC Therapy (Alternative Augmentative Communication Therapy) is variation from Speech-Language Therapy involving the use of Communication Aids in the efficient rehabilitation of communication through facilitation or efficient communication using compensatory Alternative communication aids.  

Counselling - is a process of explaining and motivating the parents to co-operate to the team work which requires patience and positive approach. 

There has been change in perspective of the boarders in which the profession delivers its services. A lot to be known and a lot be done. 

Speech-Language Pathology Services

Process of Rehabilitation

• Education Program 
• Awareness Program
• Survey Programs
• Screening Programs 
• History and Observation
• Evaluation 
• Therapy
• Review Evaluation
• Home training 
• Medico-Legal Cases 
• Self help support groups
• Volunteer groups 

Education programs - are conducted for guiding teachers, grass-root workers, medical professionals  to identify individuals with Communication and Swallowing problems. 

E.g. National Program for Prevention of Communication Disorders workshops for grass root level workers    

Awareness Programs - are conducted to make the general public aware of incidence and prevalence of conditions affecting Communication and Swallowing skills and their impact on Quality of Life.  

E.g. Disability day celebrations, Speech and Hearing week

Survey programs - is conducted to establish the incidence pattern and to estimate the prevalence of communication disorders in various groups.  

Screening Programs - is conducted to increase the probability of early identification of communication disabilities through large scale brief evaluation in schools, colleges, hospitals, villages and conducting camps. 

History and Observation - is a process by which significant past events which may have influenced the current status of communicative functioning. The observation may be helpful in planning the further process of evaluation. 

Evaluation - is a process by which the functional abilities and skills are tested for their appropriateness to the age, gender and other grouping parameters at a given point of time.  The evaluation may be subjective (qualitative) or objective (quantitative). 

Therapy - is a process by which a skill is directly addressed by a Speech Language Pathologist in improving the skill through facilitatory or compensatory strategies. Various activities will be followed in the clinical settings and the skills are generalized and maintained in other settings. 

Review evaluation - is a process conducted at regular intervals to monitor the therapy sessions and the improvements in the skills. This process may indicate the modification of the strategies employed of continuation based on the status at that time.    

Medico-Legal Case and Certificate of Disability - is a function of speech language pathology to provide evidence of presence or absence of particular condition which might influence the legal decision. The certificate of disability is given by the medical government organization after verifying the genuineness of the disability assessed by a authorized Speech Language Pathologist.      

Home training - is a program in which the caretakers of individuals with communication disability are trained to carry out therapy sessions at their locality. Regular follow up will be done to review the patients ability and therapy goals. This is done when the individual is unable to attend therapy sessions on a regular basis due to residing in other towns from the locations of center.   

Self-help support groups - is a group formed by individuals with communication problem and their caretaker to support the individuals with specific communication problems and their caretakers through social interaction for emotional support. 

Volunteer groups - is a group formed by general public to provide support through funds, emotional and life skills to the patients with communication problem.  

How do we UNDERSTAND?

The speech spoken to us is heard through the ears. What we hear is nothing but sound waves. 

How do we SPEAK?

It is simple!

          The brain has the master code for everything we do. It is the decision maker. It has the driving force, control over driving and the force. These process is like a drama where there is a Script writer, Director, Actors, Language and Audience. 

          The speakers brain has the message to communicate. Hence, the message is selected and the words are arranged to make a script. IT IS NOT THAT SIMPLE. Each organ should have knowledge about the script language understood by the other organ to communicate. This script will be sent to the drama artists which are oral and laryngeal structures through the nervous connection.   

Areas of brain - blue primary to speak

The organs in the following picture deliver the script to the audience as speech that can be heard. The are voice box, tongue, lips and others. The lungs are the power house and the driving force.  

To speak is like a chain and chain has to be complete to serve the purpose. One link gets missed in the chain, it will lead to problems in speaking. 

What are the Neurolinguistic Speech-Language Disorders?  

• Aphasia - inability to talk, understand, name and repeat. This may be present after episode of damage to brain to language areas. 
• Dysarthria - inability to speak with adequate clarity of speech
• Apraxia of Speech - inability to coordinate oral movements for speech 
• 
  

What is Speech-Language Pathology?

What is Speech-Language Pathology ? 

Speech-Language Pathology is an allied medical/health profession which is dedicated in rehabilitation of individuals with Swallowing, Speech, Language, Cognitive-Linguistic and Communicative functions in various conditions. 

Who is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) ? 

     
Speech-Language Pathologist is an allied health professional or rehabilitation specialist (clinical, academic or research) who practices Speech-Language Pathology.