What is speech therapy
Speech therapy is the evaluation and treatment of communication problems and speech disorders. It is performed by speech and language pathologists (SLPs), who are often referred to as speech therapists.
Speech therapy techniques are used to improve communication. These treatments include speech, language intervention activities, and others, depending on the type of speech or language disorder.
Speech therapy may be required for speech disorders that develop in childhood or impaired speech in adults due to an injury or illness, such as a stroke or brain injury.
Why do you need speech therapy?
There are many speech and language disorders that can be treated with speech therapy.
- Speech disorders. Speech disorder is the inability to correctly form the sounds of certain words. A child with this speech disorder may drop, swap, distort, or add word sounds. An example of distorting a word would be saying "thith" instead of "this".
- Fluency disorders. Fluency disorder affects the flow, speed, and rhythm of speech. Stuttering and confusion are fluency disorders. A person with stuttering has difficulty making a sound and speech may be blocked or interrupted, or they may repeat part of each word. Often a person in a disorder speaks very quickly and puts the words together.
- Resonance disorders. Resonance disturbance occurs when obstruction or obstruction to the regular airflow in the nasal or oral cavities changes the vibrations responsible for sound quality. It can also occur if the pharyngeal valve does not close properly. Ringing disorders are often associated with a cleft palate, neurological disturbances, and swollen tonsils.
- Receptive disorders. A person with a receptive language disorder has difficulty understanding and processing what other people say. This can make you seem uninterested when someone is speaking, have trouble following instructions, or have a limited vocabulary. Other language disorders, autism, hearing loss, and head injury can also lead to a receptive language disorder.
- Expressive disorders. Expressive language disorder is difficulty conveying or expressing information. If you have an expressive disorder, you may have trouble forming accurate sentences, such as using incorrect verb tense. It has been linked to poor growth, such as Down syndrome and hearing loss. It can also result from a head trauma or a medical condition.
- Cognitive communication disorders. Difficulty communicating due to injury to the part of the brain that controls your ability to think is referred to as cognitive communication disorder. It can lead to memory problems, problem solving, and difficulty speaking or listening. It can be caused by biological problems, such as abnormal brain development, certain neurological conditions, a brain injury, or a stroke.
- Loss of ability to speak. It is an acquired communication disorder that affects a person's ability to speak and understand others. It often also affects a person's ability to read and write. Stroke is the most common cause of aphasia, although other brain disorders can also cause it
- stutter. This condition is characterized by slow or slurred speech due to weakness or inability to control the muscles used in speech. It is most commonly caused by nervous system disorders and conditions that cause facial paralysis or weak throat and tongue, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and stroke.
