What is Speech Therapy?
BDS (Bachelor of Dental Surgery), 10 years of experience
What is the meaning of Speech Therapy?
Speech therapy is the treatment done for disorders and problems associated with language, speech, and swallowing. Speech therapy is provided by speech-language pathologists (SLPs), also known as speech therapists. The various speech therapy techniques help in the improvement of communication. Speech therapy helps people to use their voice properly and help the muscles in making the right type of sounds. Speech therapy also helps people in the understanding of language, and learn how to swallow well again following a brain injury or a stroke (damage to the brain due to interrupted blood supply). Speech therapy may be required at any age, be it childhood or adult age. In this article, we will be discussing the benefits of speech therapy in detail.
- What is Speech Therapy?
- When is Speech Therapy done?
- How is Speech Therapy done?
- What are the benefits of Speech Therapy?
- What are the disadvantages of Speech therapy?
What is Speech Therapy?
Speech therapy, also known as speech and language therapy, is a treatment done for problems associated with speech, language, and swallowing. A speech therapist also called a speech-language pathologist provides speech therapy.
Speech therapy is a process that helps children and adults to overcome difficulty in speaking. It is a kind of exercise of the muscles that help with speech.
When a person tries to speak, a sound comes out of the mouth. Some children are hesitant to speak, while some are unable to speak. These children are taught about the way of speaking. Apart from this, some adults are also unable to speak due to shock, injury, or some diseases. Therefore, this therapy can help them speak and talk.
Speech therapy helps in relieving the children from mental, physical, and neurological (brain-related) problems. Pediatric speech therapists work together with neurologists to help such children.
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When is Speech Therapy done?
Speech therapy is done in the following type of problems:
- Speech disorders: Problems in making the right kind of sound, not using the voice fully, straining while speaking are the different disorders that can be relieved by using speech therapy. Some of the common speech disorders include:
- Articulation disorders: A disorder in which an individual is unable to correctly say some word sounds.
- Fluency disorders: This type of disorder includes sluttering (a problem in getting out a sound, speech may have unusual stops or repetitions) and cluttering (speaking very fast and merging the words).
- Voice or resonance disorders: Problems associated with the volume, pitch, or quality of voice can cause resonance disorders. It may cause pain and discomfort for a child when he/she is speaking.
- Communication and language disorders: Problems in the understanding of language, expressing one’s thoughts, or responsiveness in social scenarios can be solved by speech therapy. These disorders can be of the following types:
- Receptive disorders: Problems in the understanding of a language and processing what others are saying are called receptive disorders.
- Expressive disorders: This disorder includes problems in being able to respond in a social situation, putting words together, and conveying information.
- Cognitive-communication disorders: These are problems associated with memory, listening, speaking, and problem-solving ability. It can occur due to a brain injury or a stroke.
- Aphasia: This disorder affects a person’s ability to talk, read, write, and understand what others are saying. It usually occurs due to stroke or other brain disorders.
- Dysarthria: A condition in which an individual is unable to control the muscles that are used for speech. It usually happens in conditions like facial paralysis and stroke. ( Know more about- What is Autism? Causes, Symptoms, and Treatment )
- Swallowing and feeding problems: Certain problems associated with the muscles in the mouth and throat region can cause chewing, swallowing, coughing, and gagging problems. These problems can be treated using speech therapy.
How is Speech Therapy done?
How speech therapy is done depends on whether the patient is a child or an adult.
- Speech therapy for children:
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- Pediatric speech therapists specialize in providing speech therapy to children.
- Speech therapy for children can be done in a small group or individually, depending on the type of speech disorder and the age of the child.
- The speech therapist interacts with the child in a friendly manner and may use pictures and books to help in language development.
- The correct sounds are taught to the child in an age-appropriate manner in a playful and fun way.
- The speech therapist provides ways in which the parent or the caregiver of the child can teach speech therapy at home.
- Speech therapy for adults:
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- The therapist first tries to find out the reason for the speech disorder in adults.
- Exercises for improving memory, problem-solving, and other activities may be done to improve cognitive communication.
- Breathing exercises may be taught to solve resonance disorders.
- Certain exercises may be taught that help in increasing the strength of the oral muscles.
- The patient is helped in improving his conversational skills to help him in social interactions.
- Speech therapy can be practiced at home using mobile apps, flashcards, and workbooks.
- Speech therapy also includes training for swallowing in case of an injury or a medical disorder that may have impacted a personal swallowing function, such as cases of oral cancer or Parkinson’s disease (a disease that affects the movement of the body and includes tremors).
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What are the benefits of Speech Therapy?
The advantages of speech therapy are-
- Speech therapy is very beneficial for children. This therapy helps the child to speak and learn properly. Apart from this, it gives confidence to the child that he can talk like other children. Some children are not able to read properly, this therapy is very useful for them too. This therapy prepares children socially and physically so that they can live with everyone.
- Many children are not good at reading, but they are very good at art, such children are made interested in reading with the help of entertainment. So that the child can improve academically and intellectually.
- Speech therapy is most beneficial for young children, as they can quickly learn speaking, writing, reading, etc. Research shows that speech therapy can help in curing 70 percent of speech disorders in children. This therapy helps improve the speech and language of many children.
- Speech therapy helps people in their day-to-day activities and interactions.
- Speech therapy prevents injury to the vocal cords and also helps in healing an injury.
- Speech therapy helps people who have had a brain injury or stroke to retain their swallowing ability.
- Speech therapy instills confidence in an individual.
- Speech therapy helps in improving communication in an individual.
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What are the disadvantages of Speech therapy?
Speech therapy may have a few disadvantages:
- Speech therapy is usually a long-term, time-consuming procedure. It is important to practice speech therapy at home, along with the sessions with the speech therapist to help in a faster recovery.
- The cost of long-term speech therapy can be a little on the higher side.
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We hope we have answered all your questions about the Benefits of Speech therapy through this article.
Contact a Speech therapist/ Audiologist for the treatment of speech disorders in children and adults.
We only aim to provide you information about diseases. We do not recommend any medicine, treatment, or surgery to anyone. Only a doctor can give you good advice and the best treatment plan.
