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VOICE THERAPY & SPEECH PATHOLOGY.png
VOICE THERAPY TREATMENT

 

Many times, hoarseness or problems with your voice can arise from being sick. Hoarseness that lasts longer than a few weeks or comes on suddenly can sometimes be due to injuries to the vocal folds (vocal cords).

 

These might be injuries such as nodules, polyps, cysts, scarring, hemorrhages (bleeding), swelling, etc. Hoarseness can also be the result of weakness of the vocal folds from aging, lack of use, decreased movement of one or both of the vocal folds (paresis or paralysis), etc.

 

In some cases, hoarseness can also be from muscle tension/muscle imbalances, or sometimes even cancer. While an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor (ENT) will be the one to diagnose what the problem is, voice therapy is often part of the plan to get one's voice back and prevent issues from arising again in the future.

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SPEECH PATHOLOGY
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Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults.

  • Speech disorders occur when a person has difficulty producing speech sounds correctly or fluently (e.g., stuttering is a form of disfluency) or has problems with his or her voice or resonance.

  • Language disorders occur when a person has trouble understanding others (receptive language), or sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings (expressive language). Language disorders may be spoken or written and may involve the form (phonology, morphology, syntax), content (semantics), and/or use (pragmatics) of language in functional and socially appropriate ways.

  • Social communication disorders occur when a person has trouble with the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication. These disorders may include problems (a) communicating for social purposes (e.g., greeting, commenting, asking questions), (b) talking in different ways to suit the listener and setting, and (c) following rules for conversation and story-telling. All individuals with autism spectrum disorder have social communication problems. Social communication disorders are also found individuals with other conditions, such as traumatic brain injury.

  • Cognitive-communication disorders include problems organizing thoughts, paying attention, remembering, planning, and/or problem-solving. These disorders usually happen as a result of a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or dementia, although they can be congenital.

  • Swallowing disorders (dysphagia) are feeding and swallowing difficulties, which may follow an illness, surgery, stroke, or injury.

Additionally, SLPs:

  • Provide aural rehabilitation for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

  • Provide augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems for individuals with severe expressive and/or language comprehension disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder or progressive neurological disorders.

  • Work with people who don't have speech, language, or swallowing disorders, but want to learn how to communicate more effectively (e.g., work on accent modification or other forms of communication enhancement).

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