"But My Speech is Fine..."

If I've heard the phrase "but my speech is fine" once, I've heard it a hundred times. When most people hear "speech therapy", they think of children who have trouble saying their "r" or "s" sounds, they typically don't think of adults or the medical field. But speech therapy is such an expansive field aiming to improve everything from communication to swallowing to voice to reading and more.

It's true, most people I have worked with have not had trouble with their "speech", which is defined as how your mouth and muscles move to make clear words. Yes, some have had strokes, brain injuries, or other health issues which have caused trouble speaking clearly, but the majority of people I have seen in my 8 years in the field have a vast array of other reasons for needing speech therapy.

• Swallowing: difficulty with chewing, swallowing, muscle weakness, coordination issues, reflux, and many other reasons may cause a person to need speech therapy for DYSPHAGIA (difficulty swallowing).
  

  • Coughing on your saliva or coughing while eating and drinking

  • Feeling food, drink, or pills stuck in your throat

  • Recurring pneumonia due to ASPIRATION (food or drink going into the lungs)

  • There are exercises for improving swallow function. Speech therapy trains these exercises and develops appropriate strategies for safe swallowing.

• Language: finding your words to speak or write, understanding what you hear or read. Language impairment can have a variety of causes including:
  

  • Stroke, Brain Injury, Concussion, Cancer, Neurological Disease (Parkinson's Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, etc), Dementia.

  • Speech therapy will address communication impairments through language exercises and strategy training.

• Voice: having a hoarse or raspy voice, your voice or throat getting tired when speaking, difficulty coordinating your breathing with speaking, volume is too low, pitch is too low or too high, nasal sounding voice. A variety of causes result in voice impairment including:
  

  • Vocal nodules or polyps, tension in your throat, nerve damage, cancer, neurological disease (Parkinson's Disease, MS, Myasthenia Gravis, etc), stroke, brain injury

  • Speaking as a profession - teacher, salesperson, customer service, coach, etc

  • There are exercises and strategies to improve your voice quality.

• Cognition: difficulty with memory, attention, organization, problem solving or executive functioning, visual - spatial skills. Cognitive changes can be due to the following:

  • Dementia / Alzheimer's, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Stroke, Brain Injury, Concussion, Cancer / Chemo-brain, Neurological disease

  • Speech therapy targets exercise for brain health and trains strategies to improve daily living.

Speech therapy can greatly benefit those who may be experiencing any of the above issues. We do much more than just help you "talk better".