Speech therapy covers the areas of prevention, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders, which could be language disorders (expressive and receptive), speech production disorders, or communication disorders associated with problems with hearing or learning (reading and/or writing) in all age groups.
When should a speech therapist (speech language pathologist) be consulted?
In the case of adults, any time one feels uncomfortable with the way he or she communicates. It could be because he/she has difficulty understanding people due to hearing or processing difficulties, or people have difficulty understanding him/her due to errors in articulation, stuttering or difficulty relating events and encounters. A speech therapist should be consulted when there is an indication of vocal misuse or abuse, especially when the voice problem is impacting the person’s professional life.
Speech therapists are consulted to assess and treat swallowing and cognitive difficulties resulting from strokes or other neurological trauma.
When someone is diagnosed with progressive hearing loss, a speech therapist can treat that person via a program of aural rehabilitation.
What type of problems does a speech therapist treat?
- Delayed acquisition of speech or language skills (children that begin speaking late)
- Aphasias (difficulties speaking and/or comprehension)
- Difficulties in producing speech sounds accurately in the first language
- Stuttering (stammering) - Fluency disorders
- Swallowing problems
- Auditory processing disorder
- Reading or writing problems
- Voice disorders
- Communication disorders associated with hearing loss
- Accent reduction in persons learning English as a second language
Also, children or adults diagnosed with other pathologies that could affect communicative abilities like:
- Autism
- Cerebral palsy
- Neurological diseases (multiple sclerosis)
The professionals at SINEWS understand the importance of creating assessment reports that provide instructions to family, and the other health care or education professionals in contact with our client.
In SINEWS a clinical assessment can be provided regarding the difficulties that your child may have in a bilingual environment or the opportunity to attend the workshops for parents:
WORKSHOP OF BILINGUALISM - More information
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