Speech therapy for kids and adults is the speech assessment and treatment of communication problems and speech disorders. Speech is producing distinct forms of sounds that convey a message to a listener. Certain types of speech disorders can affect an individual’s ability to produce sounds to create words. A specialized speech therapist can minimize or eliminate the effects by providing speech therapy for kids and adults.

In this post, we shall explore different types of speech therapy to treat language and speech problems in both children and adults and learn the importance of speech therapy. But before we get into the topic, let’s acquaintance more about speech disorders.

Understanding Speech Disorders and Their Types

Speech disorder affects an individual’s ability to produce sounds that allow them to communicate with others. The problem prevents them from forming distinct forms of Words, Sounds, etc. Speech problems may create barriers to language and communication development.

Role of Speech Therapy

Speech therapy or speech and language pathology plays a holistic role in the patient’s development. A speech therapist or speech language pathologist are trained personnel who works with children and adults having speech and language related disorders. They specialize in providing consultation, screening, assessment, diagnosis, treatment, auditory verbal therapy. and management services. Speech therapists enhance social skills, improve communication, provide guidance for hearing aids, and empower them to cope up with a better lifestyle and spoken language development.

Types of Speech Disorder

Speech or language disorders can affect people of all ages. Here are some common categories of speech disorders you need to identify before going for the speech therapy.

• Fluency: Stuttering and cluttering
• Speech: Articulation
• Language: Ability and comprehension of spoken and written language
• Cognition: Attention, memory, ability to solve problems
• Voice: Characteristics of vocal tone
• Auditory habilitation
• Swallowing disorder

The speech-language pathologist (SLP) advises a respective speech therapy program based on examining the cause and treatment for the speech disorder as well as treatment of language processing disorder.

 Different Types of Speech Therapies

Here are a few common types of speech therapies that your speech pathologist may advise.

Speech Therapy for Fluency Disorder

Fluency (Stuttering / Stammering) is a common problem in both children and Adults. A fluency disorder affects the flow, speed, and rhythm of speech. Stuttering and cluttering are fluency disorders. A person with stuttering has trouble getting out of a sound and may have speech that is blocked or interrupted or may repeat part of all of a word. A person with cluttering often speaks fast and merges words together. Stuttering is typically considered a behavioral problem. SLPs utilize a variety of behavioral modification techniques to control stuttering.

A usual method is to train the patient to control their speech rate since speaking too fast makes the stuttering worse. Thus, practicing slow speech can improve fluency, besides aids monitoring breathing.

 Speech Therapy for Articulation Disorder

Articulation Disorders are problems with making sounds in syllables or saying words incorrectly to the point that listeners can’t understand what is being said. A child with this speech disorder may substitute, omit, distort, or add word sounds. For example Substituting “tat” for “cat”, Omitting “cu for “cup”. The Speech therapist models the sound the child has difficulty with. This speech therapy for children might include demonstrating how to move the tongue to create specific sounds.

Swallow Therapy for Swallowing Difficulty

Swallowing difficulty (Dysphagia) is difficulty with eating, drinking, swallowing, and drooling.  A swallowing disorder may lead to poor nutrition, weight loss and other health problems. The cause of swallowing difficulty may vary from person to person. The Swallow therapist teaches exercises to strengthen the muscles of the mouth. This might include facial massage and various tongue, lip, and jaw exercises, further, they may use different food textures to encourage awareness during eating and swallowing.

A Swallow specialist may also advise slow chewing of food which makes it easy to swallow food or liquid from mouth to stomach. There are many other conditions and approaches to determining those in need.

Speech Therapy for Aphasia

Aphasia is a communication disorder which requires speech therapy and speech language pathology for adults or children and is caused by damage to the brain’s language capabilities. Common causes of aphasia are Strokes, brain tumors, traumatic brain injuries, and degenerative brain diseases. This is an acquired communication disorder that affects a person’s ability to speak and understand others. It also affects the ability to listen, read, or write. Aphasia can occur in adults or children.

A speech-language pathologist plays a vital role in intervening in aphasia by examining patients’ ability to understand speech and express themselves. Some combination of treatments and language therapy used to treat aphasia is drilled to improve language skills, group therapy to refine conversational skills, and writing to ameliorate communication skills.

Speech Therapy for Late Talkers

Some people require intensive speech therapy or speech physiotherapy to speak normally. The earlier they start, the better treatment they can receive to stimulate language development. If your child should be talking to you now, that means they are having difficulty talking. The speech therapy services at South Delhi implies a variety of techniques to encourage children to speak.

For some children, different types of communication techniques are facilitated like picture cards, toys, sign language, etc. Your speech therapist may also recommend you to an audiologist for further screening of a hearing test.

Speech Therapy for Apraxia

People with apraxia have difficulty pronouncing some words or making particular sounds. In this problem, the person knows what to say or speak, but words doesn’t seem to come out. The SLP uses a combination of assessment techniques like oral motor assessment, and speech sound assessment to diagnose the main cause.

If the person is diagnosed with dyspraxia, may require a one-to-one speech therapy session multiple times a week. This type of speech therapy requires a comprehensive practice of speech with a speech and language therapist.

Speech Therapy for Dysarthria

 Dysarthria is a speech disorder caused by muscle weakness. It causes slurred or slow speech that can be difficult to understand. Common causes of dysarthria are Stroke, Brain injury, Brain tumor, Parkinson’s disease, Nervous system disorders, and conditions that cause facial paralysis or tongue or throat muscle weakness. A speech therapist helps you in strengthening muscles, increasing breath support, adjusting speech rate, and helping family members communicate with you.

Voice Therapy

 A voice disorder is when the voice has a problem with pitch, tone, volume, and other qualities. Speech-language pathologists play a key role in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of voice disorders and also helps in cognitive communication disorders.

Conclusion

A speech disorder can affect a person’s self-esteem. SpHear Speech and Hearing Clinic is a certified center for treating speech and language disorders with the best speech and language pathologists, our speech therapy clinic at Patna provides personal care and treatment. The clinic is led by an expert team of audiologists, speech and language pathologists, and other lab pathologists. We are committed to early identification and intervention of all speech problems in adults or children and language disorders. Take your speech therapy sessions up a notch with our finely designed Speech Therapy Images. These images are a perfect blend of artistic charm and educational value. Book your appointment for online or one-to-one speech therapy today.