The ability to speak, communicate, and swallow/eat are major components of life. Losing Speech, Language, and/or Swallowing skills may be catastrophic. Adults may experience speech and language difficulties for a variety of reasons. The specific types of Speech and Language Disorders, and medical conditions that may cause them are listed below:
- Speech Disorders (Apraxia, Dysarthria, Stuttering).
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Language Disorders (Aphasia, Primary Progressive Aphasia).
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Cognitive-Communicative Disorders resulting from Right Hemispheric Brain Damage and Traumatic Brain Injury.
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Medical Conditions (Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury, Right Hemisphere Brain Injury, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Parkinson’s Disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Dementia, Huntington’s Disease, Oral Cancer, Laryngeal Cancer). Some of these medical conditions may also cause swallowing disorders (dysphagia).
Speech Therapy helps to enhance or restore communication and swallowing skills. It may also include activities to improve your ability to understand others, as well as to utilize thinking and effective problem-solving skills. If needed, therapy can facilitate the use of assistive communication devices. Treatment plans are designed to fit a patient’s individual needs. Progressive one-on-one care is provided to establish a partnership with each patient to achieve personal goals.
Speech and Language Disorders:
Many speech disorders and conditions affect our ability to speak and communicate. These disorders and conditions may range from saying sounds incorrectly to losing the ability to even speak or understand speech. Disorders may include:
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Fluency Disorders – Interruption in the flow of speech characterized by an unusual rate or rhythm of speech, hesitations, repetition of sounds or words, or prolongations of nouns, syllables, words, or phrases. Excessive tension in facial and/or neck muscles, struggle behaviors, and secondary mannerisms may also be present.
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Articulation Disorders – Difficulties with the way sounds are formed and put together, are often characterized by omitting, adding, substituting, or distorting sounds.
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Voice Disorders – When vocal quality, pitch, loudness, resonance, and/or duration are inappropriate for an individual’s age and gender.
Language disorder:
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Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to the parts of the brain that contain language. Aphasia may cause problems with any or all of the following: speaking, listening, reading, writing.
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