Speech therapy is a unique subset of skilled home health. It’s something we’re proud to offer at Phoenix Home Care. Today’s blog showcases how we can help with speech therapy in the comfort of your own home.
Definition of Speech Therapy
Speech therapy is defined as training to help patients overcome speech and language problems and speak more clearly. There are several approaches to speech therapy, such as exercises to strengthen the muscles used for speech, speech drills to improve clarity, or sound production to improve the articulation of words.
What Does Speech Therapy Treat?
Speech therapy helps treat several speech and language disorders.
Aphasia. This disorder affects a person’s ability to speak and understand others. Stroke or brain disorders are the most common cause of aphasia.
Dysarthria. This condition arises from weaknesses or lack of ability to control the muscles responsible for speech. Neurological disorders are often the cause of dysarthria, including multiple sclerosis, stroke, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease).
Stuttering. A person who stutters has trouble getting sounds out in an organized way. That person may have speech that is blocked or interrupted, or may repeat part or all of a word. Someone who stutters may speak very fast or merge a lot of words together.
Physical blockage. A physical blockage near the vocal cords or nasal passages may affect someone’s speech and voice quality. Swollen tonsils, a cleft palate, or neurological disorders may cause these physical difficulties.
This is not an all-inclusive list. A medical doctor may recommend a speech therapist to someone recovering from a stroke or needing long-term care for a chronic neurological disorder.
What Our Speech Therapy Team Can Do
Speech therapy takes measured steps to try to improve your loved one’s ability to communicate, whether the difficulty comes from a recent medical event or it’s been a chronic struggle to speak.
Our staff can:
- Evaluate the client and assess their need for speech therapy. We’ll consider the diagnosis of a medical doctor and determine the best therapeutic techniques.
- Recommend and employ a treatment program. We’ll start with a treatment program to improve the client’s speech. Along the way, we’ll monitor the progress of the client as they gain confidence and improve their communication abilities.
- Help with follow-up. Speech therapists are a part of an overall care team. We’ll help to coordinate follow-up care and any appointments that need to be made with other specialists and doctors.
Speech Therapy at Phoenix Home Care
If you or a loved one requires speech therapy on a regular basis, consider an in-home skilled nurse. We can come to you in the comfort of your own home. Contact Phoenix Home Care or call toll-free 1-888-830-2388 if you have questions about our speech therapy or skilled home health services.
