Speech Therapy
Elderly patients who have been suffering from stroke or dementia need the assistance of speech therapists to recover from the debilitating consequences of the medical condition.
Being able to communicate is one of the most significant aspects for humans no matter what age you are in. However, for aging adults, it can be absolutely vital. If a person is unsuccessful in describing what they need, what’s wrong in general, or where it hurts, the situation can quickly spiral into a medical emergency.
You may consider a speech therapist for your aging loved one if they:
- Are experiencing difficulties in managing their personal affairs
- Have a problem responding to questions or requesting items
- Show an inability to avoid a potentially dangerous situation
The speech therapist will perform a comprehensive speech therapy evaluation to determine if the problem is language-based and devise a plan to address it.
Seniors can experience speech issues due to the natural aging process or due to a medical condition such as dementia. A speech therapist can help seniors to relearn how to speak.
According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, over 700,000 people suffer a stroke in the United States every year. One in every four stroke survivors requires speech rehabilitation to recover completely.
What Can Speech Therapy Help With?
Speech therapy is a simple way of treating conditions that affect a person’s ability or eat, communicate or swallow. Patients suffering from the following medical conditions can get relief with speech therapy.
- Aphasia
- Apraxia
- Dysphagia
- Dysarthria
Dementia
Benefits of Speech Therapy
Seniors can experience a problem with speaking, eating, or swallowing for a number of reasons. Speech therapy is vital for seniors’ overall health and the ability to communicate.
Some of the benefits offered by speech therapy include but are not limited to:
Improved Articulation
For patients who have recently recovered from a stroke, articulation is important. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), articulation disorder is defined as the “atypical production of speech sounds characterized by substitutions, omissions, additions, or distortions that may interfere with intelligibility.”
As aging seniors learn to articulate the words properly, they can communicate easily with their loved ones.
Improved Swallowing
Seniors may experience a problem with swallowing which is often referred to as dysphagia. Patients can have difficulty with liquids, solids, or both. Structural changes in the swallowing mechanism can cause leaking of material from the digestive tract into the respiratory tract. This is deemed dangerous for seniors and can even result in death.
Intervention by a speech therapist can prevent this from happening. The therapist can perform swallowing evaluations and make certain modifications to the food they eat. Changing diet, thickening foods, or exercising to strengthen the underlying muscles can help.
Preventing Weight Loss
As structural changes in musculature are not evident from the outside, it is possible that the patient may be suffering from dysphagia. Dysphagia in seniors can result in extreme weight loss if the food is not reaching the stomach.
Speech therapists assist the patient and help them maintain their nutrition without invasive medical intervention.
A speech therapist is trained and licensed to focus on language, speech, cognitive, voice, and swallowing problems experienced by aging adults.