A speech pathologist, sometimes also called a speech therapist, is a medical professional trained to evaluate and treat a wide variety of speech and language disorders in patients from childhood through adulthood. Patients needs often change as they age, but Home Speech Pathology Services can help to accommodate a wide variety of both age-related and congenital speech difficulties. Check out some of the services frequently provided below.
Treating Articulation Disorders
Articulation disorders are most frequently seen in children, some of whom have difficulty producing clearly understandable speech even at a comparatively advanced age. Children that leave off syllables or sounds from words, simplify consonant clusters, or substitute consonants in inappropriate places can often benefit from Home Speech Pathology Services. Verbal communication is one of the things that makes human beings unique, so it’s important to offer children who are experiencing significant delays in their language acquisition the help they need to get caught up.
Voice Disorders
There are a variety of voice disorders that can impact a patient’s ability to speak, including vocal nodules or polyps, laryngitis, and vocal cord paralysis. Often these conditions require medical intervention as well as speech therapy. Rehabilitative exercises can also help.
Feeding and Swallowing Disorders
A wide variety of underlying conditions can cause patients difficulty with swallowing. These include many chronic and degenerative conditions as well as congenital disorders. Muscle weakness, nervous system disorders, chronic gastrointestinal conditions, and even heart disease can lead to difficulty when swallowing. Many of these conditions can occur at any age, although the majority of patients with swallowing disorders are older.
Expressive and Receptive Language Disorders
Some patients, primarily children, can both hear and speak clearly but still have difficulty communicating. This is often due to either a receptive language disorder, which makes it difficult for the patient to understand the meaning of other people’s words; or an expressive language disorder, which prevents the patient from expressing meaning correctly through language. Similar issues can occur later in life due to traumatic brain injury or the neurological effects of some degenerative conditions.
These are just a few of many issues that can be diagnosed and treated by a speech pathologist. You can also follow them on Twitter for more information.
