Five Reasons Adults Need A Speech Therapist
The medical specialist is known as speech pathology therapists or simply speech therapists who work with patients who have any number of oral problems. These issues can range from voice, language, and general communication.
Speech therapists can help patients with speech disorders and improve their communication skills. A speech therapist can treat children and adults, as well as babies and children.
These are five reasons an adult might need to see a speech therapist:
- Dysphasia & Swallowing Issues
Movements of the mouth, lips, tongue, throat, larynx, and jaw can be affected by cancer and neurological issues. These issues can impact speech, swallowing, chewing, and speaking. A speech therapist can help you to regain these movements or teach you how to work around them.
A swallowing test will be performed. In this scenario, you will be given food to swallow and the therapist will watch how your mouth and throat are moving on a monitor. This monitor uses X-ray technology in real-time to capture images.
- Stuttering
Stuttering refers to a speech disorder in which a person cannot pronounce words correctly, repeat them, or extend them. Stuttering can be affected by emotions and tension.
Adults with stuttering issues can be helped by a speech therapist. They will help them overcome their fears and practice methods to reduce stuttering. The therapist can help you overcome any difficulties you may have with enunciating and finishing certain sounds.
Acquired Apraxia
Apraxia can be a speech or language impairment caused by brain injury. This could be a brain disease, stroke, trauma, or brain damage. Apraxia can cause adult stuttering, inconsistencies, and difficulty with speech. Your therapist can help you regain your speaking skills.
- Dysarthria
Dysarthria can be described as a motor speech disorder in which the speech muscles are paralyzed or weakened.
Dysarthria is characterized by the loss of control over the vocal cords and larynx and difficulty in forming words. Your speech therapist can help you communicate these difficulties.
- Aphasia
Aphasia refers to a loss or partial impairment of the ability to produce and process language. It is caused by a brain injury. Aphasia is a condition in which an adult has difficulty understanding, reading, writing, and speaking language.
Persons with aphasia might have difficulty naming objects and people, or may struggle to put words together. They may also have difficulty mixing words up, mixing up words, or speaking in single words or short phrases. To improve communication and comprehension, a speech therapist can help you retrain your brain.
Adult Speech Therapy
As part of speech therapy for adults, an SLP may use a variety of techniques. These techniques include:
Social communication The SLP might use memory activities and problem-solving to improve communication.
Breathing exercises An SLP might use breathing exercises to help with resonance issues.
Mouth exercises These can be used to strengthen your oral muscles and improve communication.
Swallowing exercises medical conditions, such as Parkinson’s Disease, oral cancer, or stroke, can cause swallowing problems. To help someone with these problems, an SLP may use swallowing exercises.
Are They Effective?
Numerous studies have shown that speech therapy can be an effective way to help children and adults improve their communication skills.
A study involving over 700 children with language or speech difficulties has shown that speech therapy can have a significant positive impact.
Results showed that speech therapy for 6 hours per month significantly improved communication performance. The effectiveness of speech therapy over the same period was much higher than that of no treatment.
Another study examined the effects speech therapy had on adults who suffered a stroke or developed aphasia. These data show that speech therapy can be effective in treating communication problems.
Research also shows its effectiveness in the initial phase of strokes, usually the first 6 months. It also indicates that intensive treatment has a greater impact.
Another study suggests that speech therapy may be an effective treatment for people with aphasia. The study found that speech therapy was effective in improving communication skills by improving communication skills over 16 sessions spread over eight weeks.
