Speech Pathologists - Who They Are and What They Do

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Speech Pathologists - Who They Are and What They
Do
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Table of contents

• Speech Pathologists - Who They Are and What They
  Do
• When to seek a speech pathologist
• Communication Disability
• What Is Speech Therapy Evaluation?

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Speech Pathologists - Who They Are and What They
Do

• Speech pathologists or speech therapists as they
  were formerly known, work to evaluate, diagnose
  and treat speech, communication (social and
  cognitive), voice, and swallowing disorders. They
  provide specialized services to a wide range of
  disorders, with the ultimate goal of assessing
  how well patients can both understand and express
  themselves using spoken language.

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• Communication is a dynamic process of exchanging
  ideas and information. This dynamic process
  involves encoding, transmitting, and decoding the
  desired messages. Speaking is a verbal means of
  communicating or conveying meaning. To perform
  this requires precise neuromuscular coordination
  and is the result of specific motor behaviours.
  Speech consists of combinations of speech sounds,
  voice quality, accent and rhythm. Each of these
  components is used to modify the spoken message.

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When to seek a speech pathologist

• Speech pathologists treat a wide range of
  communication and swallowing problems, such as
  problems with the following
• Speech sounds - when a specific letter or sound
  is not pronounced correctly
• Fluency how well speech flows. Whether there is
  a stutter or long pauses when talking
• Voice how voices sound in terms of volume, tone
  or even the lack of ability to make sounds
• Literacy people with speech disorders often
  have trouble reading and writing

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• Social communication how to talk to different
  people, how close to stand to someone when
  talking
• Feeding and swallowing how well food is chewed
  and swallowed
• Cognitive communication problems may involve
  memory, attention, problem solving and
  organizational skills

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Communication Disability

• Speech and language disorders can arise from a
  wide range of factors. These include
•  
• Articular disorders
• Phonological disorders
• Speech flow disorders (stuttering, tachycardia)
• Hearing loss - deafness
• Language Usage Disorders - Actual Disorders
  (Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Semantic - Real
  Disorder)
• Learning difficulties

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• Eating and swallowing disorders
• Voice disorders
• Craniofacial abnormalities
• Head and Neck Surgery (laryngectomy)
• Neurogenic disorders and syndromes
• Strokes - aphasia
• Traumatic brain injury

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What Is Speech Therapy Evaluation?

• Speech therapy assessment is a process that
  examines a person's characteristics, abilities,
  and current needs.
• It allows us to see if there is a communication
  disorder, and if the answer is yes, it examines
  the nature of the disorder and its impact on a
  person's life. In addition, it provides the
  speech pathologist with the appropriate
  information to create a successful intervention.
  Based on the evaluation, the procedures and a
  treatment schedule will be set. The way the
  evaluation will be performed differs depending on
  the disorder, the client and the speech
  pathologist. However, there are some steps that
  are common to all evaluations.

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• Patient history
• Before any evaluation, it is important to get a
  complete history of the patient. This procedure
  is usually performed during the first appointment
  and may include questions about childbirth and
  development, medical, social, educational and
  family history.

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• Oral examination
• During the oral examination it is important to
  evaluate the structures of speech production and
  their functional adequacy. Thus, the teeth, the
  lips, the palate, the tongue, the oral cavity,
  etc. are evaluated. At the same time, it is
  examined whether there is a synchronization
  between the above structures, so that it is
  possible to pronounce the consonants in terms of
  articulation and resonance.

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• Audiological evaluation
• The speech therapist records whether the patients
  hearing has been assessed by an audiologist, and
  if not, the patient is referred for an
  appropriate evaluation.

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• Evaluation of the production of successive motor
  syllables
• This assessment is performed to determine the
  ability of the modular mechanism to make rapid
  alternating speech movements. Before measuring
  with the timer, clear instructions are given to
  the examinee, as well as the ability to perform
  the exercise. It should be noted that this
  assessment process is not used in preschool
  children, as it is difficult to maintain
  production for a long time in order to be
  calculated. Nevertheless, the smoothness of the
  production of individual syllables can be
  assessed.

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• Obtaining a sample of speech and voice
• This sample is obtained through dialogue. In
  order to get a reliable sample, there must be at
  least 100 to 300 productions or words, to give
  the patient the opportunity to produce a variety
  of language structures (e.g., affirmations,
  questions, verb tenses, etc.) in different
  language environments (home, school etc.).

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• Reading texts
• The patient is given texts to read according to
  their age, in order to obtain information on
  voice control, flow, articulation and reading
  skills.

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• Effective intervention
• It is important to remember that the speech
  pathologist works with other health professionals
  (occupational therapists, doctors or
  psychologists), so that everyone contributes with
  their knowledge and experience to the fullest
  evaluation of the patient in order to achieve the
  best result.
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• Do not hesitate to ask your speech pathologist
  what disorders they specialize in, in order for
  the treatment to be more effective. It is also
  important that a relationship of trust is built
  between the patient and the speech pathologist.
  The stronger the therapeutic relationship, the
  better the desired outcome.

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Contact details of The Therapy Spot

• Clinic Location
• 1232 Dufferin St, Toronto, ON M6H 4C2
• Phone [phone]
• Email office_at_therapyspot.ca
• Website https//therapyspot.ca/service-handbooks/