How Does A Speech Pathologist Help An Individual?
Facing trouble with communication and swallowing makes it difficult to connect with people around us. When you are not clearly speaking your mind, the other person tends to misunderstand or refrain from conversations. The communication and swallowing problem is present not just in babies but also teenagers and adults. This is exactly why one must get on the internet and search for “near me speech pathologist”.
The speech pathologist is an expert that helps individuals of different age groups in overcoming their communication and swallowing problems. Essentially, speech pathologists work in different environments like schools, hospitals, separate clinics, etc. They use various methods and procedures to help individuals learn the right way of clear communication.
Clearly, the best speech pathologist is the one who identifies the underlying problem with an individual, diagnosis the root cause and accordingly develops a custom treatment plan. Basically a speech therapist will work closely with you to help improve your communication and swallowing problem. He or she keeps a close track of your progress and keep on making changes in the treatment plan as per requirement.
Broad range of services that a speech pathologist provides:
Mainly, the speech pathologist treats communication and swallowing problems that become a hurdle in proper conversations. Clearly, there is much more that you can expect out of a speech therapist. Following are some ways in which the speech pathologist works to help individuals:
- The speech pathologist focuses on helping people to learn sound formations. Sometimes it becomes essential to learn the proper way of creating sounds so that the words come out clearly.
- Clearly, the speech pathologist emphasises on speech clarity and ease. They teach an individual how to speak in a clear without getting uneasy.
- Not just sound formation, clarity and ease in speaking, the speech pathologist also guides you about certain exercises that will strengthen your muscle. These muscles play a vital role in speaking and swallowing.
- Next, the speech pathologist helps you by increasing your ability of speaking certain words. As a result, you can now speak more words and also understand what others are saying in a better manner.
- Contrary to the common belief, the speech pathologist also assists with better sentence formation. They will help you improve the method of putting words together in a sentence.
- Furthermore, the speech pathologist provides the augmentative and alternative communication systems. This system helps those individuals who are dealing with severe language disorders.
- When you are facing issues with your speech, it is obvious that you will face certain challenges. These can have an impact on your confidence levels, and it becomes necessary to overcome these challenges. A speech pathologist is extremely helpful in overcoming the different challenges that arise due to communication and swallowing problems. They also be the guide for the patient’s family.
Different disorders treatable by speech pathologist:
Obviously, a speech pathologist can help the patients in multiple ways. But it is also important to learn about the different disorders that a speech pathologist can treat. Following are some disorders for which you may need to pay a visit to the speech pathologist:
- Speech disorders
This is a situation in which an individual faces trouble in producing sounds. This can be due to the brain’s inability to direct muscle movement for speaking (apraxia). There can also be a situation of not being able to produce certain sounds coming from an alphabet. Stuttering is a common problem wherein the individual takes long pauses and repeats certain words. The condition of dysathria in the one in which muscles useful for speech weaken mainly due to brain injury. All these problems are the cause of speech disorders that a speech pathologist can treat.
- Language disorders
In order to communicate properly, one must be able to understand what a person is speaking and also explain your own view about a situation. However, sometimes due to brain injury people are not able to fully understand others (condition of aphasia). Also, there are some who find it difficult to understand certain sounds mainly due to auditory processing disorder. In both of these situations, a speech pathologist can be of great help.
- Cognitive- communication disorders
Sometimes brain injury makes it difficult to remember, pay attention and organize certain thoughts. As a result, an individual faces cognitive-communication disorder wherein it becomes tough to speak, listen, read or write. For this disorder, the speech pathologist uses interactive methods to resolve the problem.
- Social- communication disorders
Furthermore, we all know someone or the other who finds social communication difficult. To greet people, ask questions and participate in conversations, individuals have to struggle a lot. A speech pathologist is your go-to person if you are facing social communication disorders.
Conclusion:
Visiting a speech pathologist is important to be able to improve on communication and swallowing problems. As parents you will start to observe signs of speech disorders early and you must act immediately. Sometimes, major accidents, shock, etc can also hamper your ability to speak properly. In such scenarios as well, you must contact the speech pathologist to get back to normal communication. The role of speech pathologist is crucial in having effective communication with friends and family. So make sure you are visiting them as and when necessary.