You’ve probably heard of speech therapy and gone to school with peers who “went to speech.” Your own children may have had speech therapy at school or in a private clinic, or you may have had speech therapy yourself. Still, you may not have a clear idea of what it is.
When most people think of speech therapy, they immediately think of articulation. However, it involves more than just pronunciation. Speech therapy also helps people overcome communication problems in the areas of language, voice, oral fluency and motor skills, and swallowing. It allows a person to communicate who previously could not express their wishes or needs.
Articulation therapy helps a person learn how to pronounce sounds and improve speech intelligibility. Articulation therapy is highly structured and follows a specific process. The first step involves ear training or being able to hear sound. The next step is to be able to correctly say the sound in isolation, then syllables, words, sentences, and conversation.
Speech therapy treats receptive language (what a person understands), expressive language (what a person expresses or says), or a combination of both. Receptive language can include skills like following directions and identifying pictures. Expressive language activities include making requests and naming objects.
Voice therapy treats disorders associated with the speaking voice. As a result of a voice disorder, the voice may sound hoarse, hoarse, raspy, or there may be no voice at all. Voice disorders can be caused by abuse of the speaking voice, trauma, or disease. Some of these disorders include vocal nodules, vocal polyps, vocal cord paralysis, and laryngitis.
Fluency therapy helps a person learn to speak more fluently and easily. Also called stuttering therapy. Getting speech therapy for fluency helps a person become more confident when speaking with others and when speaking in public.
Oral motor and swallowing therapy teaches a person to use and strengthen the muscles in the mouth that help with the production of speech and the swallowing of food and drink. Illness and injury are some of the reasons why the muscles used for speaking and swallowing become weak.
A speech-language pathologist (SLP) provides speech therapy to their clients and patients, and this includes both adults and children. The overall goal for those receiving speech therapy is to develop and/or restore speech and communication skills to the best possible level. The duration of therapy depends primarily on the severity of the communication disorder and the motivation of the client or patient.