Adult Speech Therapy

What is Speech Therapy?

Speech Therapy focuses on enhancing and restoring communication skills. Patients from ages newborn to 90 can benefit from speech therapy services. Services generally fall into four categories:

• Speech - articulation, fluency/stuttering, voice quality
• Language - using and understanding vocabulary, correct grammar and sentence structure
• Swallowing - muscle coordination of the swallowing mechanism
• Cognition - processing and hearing language, memory and attention

Diagnoses

Pediatrics

Common diagnoses in children include delays of speech and language. Children tend to develop skills at a certain age range. Childhood milestones are often discussed during well-child appointments with a primary care provider. Appropriate speech and feeding milestones for children ages 0-5 can be found here:

https://www.asha.org/public/developmental-milestones/

If a child is not meeting appropriate speech and language milestones, a primary care physician may refer the child to speech therapy. Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) are therapists who provide therapy to enhance and support of children's communication development. Early intervention is key to maximizing therapeutic success.

Another commonly occurring diagnosis in both adults and children is dysphagia. When patients struggle with chewing and swallowing tasks, they have difficulty moving food and drink through the mouth to the esophagus and into the stomach. Signs of feeding and swallowing disorders in children can be found here:

https://www.asha.org/public/early-identification-of-speech-language-and-hearing-disorders/

Adults

Swallowing

Adults may experience a globus sensation like something is stuck in their throat, or like food/drink might be going down the wrong pipe or getting stuck. Some patients can experience coughing or gagging while eating, or experience frequent infections like pneumonia. Swallowing issues lasting longer than two weeks should prompt a visit to a primary care physician (PCP), who can place a referral for speech therapy services, if appropriate. Speech therapy may help strengthen the muscles used for swallowing, voice/vocal quality, and cognition.

Voice

If adults or children's voices are breathy or hoarse for longer than 2 weeks, or it is becoming more difficult or painful to produce speech, a primary care physician should be contacted to obtain a referral.