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San Simeon’s Speech Therapy Program Helps Seniors Retrain & Regain

Speech Language Pathologists (SLP) are often used to provide treatment for a variety of cognitive-linguistic impairments that have resulted from motor neuron diseases, such as a stroke, brain injury, Alzheimer’s, dementia, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s.

SLPs are among the most important specialists available to the elderly. Simple aches and pains can escalate into medical emergencies if seniors are unable able to effectively describe their symptoms to a healthcare professional.

Depending on where a stroke occurs in the brain, a patient may suffer from a condition called aphasia. Broca’s aphasia affects the patient’s ability to articulate words, whereas Wernicke’s area affects the patient’s ability to comprehend language. The sooner speech therapy is applied after a stroke, the higher the chances are for recovery. One therapy an SLP may use after a stroke is making melodic tones for words by singing and humming. Speech therapy can also be helpful in the early stages of dementia by keeping language skills sharp and associating certain words with pictures for cognitive retraining.

speech therapist with patient

The SLPs at San Simeon specialize in evaluating and treating patients who have these kinds of issues as well as slurred speech and swallowing disorders. Typically, weakness in throat muscles is what causes difficulty swallowing and this can lead to food getting stuck in the back of the throat. However, the SLPs are trained to help patients improve their ability and strengthen their throat muscles so that they can eat and swallow food safely.

Speech Language Pathologist with patient

San Simeon’s Speech Therapy Program Includes:

First and foremost, the San Simeon SLPs will do a comprehensive evaluation and come up with a personalized treatment plan for each patient. Often times the SLP will use facial electrical stimulation to restore muscle function within the face and mouth. The SLP may even use Deep Pharyngeal Neuromuscular Stimulation (DPNS) to restore reflexes within the pharynx. They will also use articulation speech therapy activities to help with the pronunciation of certain words. During these exercises, the SLP will clearly state a word and ask that the patient repeat it. This is done multiple times to give the patient plenty of practice.

Sometimes patients have trouble putting their thoughts into words and following directions. During these instances, San Simeon’s SLP will encourage language acquisition by using books and playing word games to help with articulation.

Signs to Look for When Considering Speech Therapy for Seniors

Take note if your elderly loved one is having problems responding to others, is experiencing difficulty swallowing or they are having trouble speaking clearly and hearing others. If this is occurring, it may be time to seek an SLP to help assist with cognitive and speech difficulties. San Simeon’s SLPs are highly trained and skilled in helping seniors retrain and regain their ability to communicate with speech therapy.

 
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