Speech and Language Therapy

What is Speech and Language Therapy?

Speech and language therapists are specialists in communication disorders. The ability to communicate is central to all that we do- to who we are, how we learn and how we relate to each other at home, at school and at work.
Thousands of people fail to access education, social, economic and career opportunities due to communication difficulties. In the UK, approximately 2.5 million people have a communication disorder of some kind. Of those, 800,000 have a difficulty so severe that it is hard for anyone outside their immediate families to understand them.

Speech and language therapists work to assess, diagnose and develop a programme of care to maximize the communication potential of the people under their care/referred to them. Speech and language therapists also work to support people with swallowing, eating and drinking difficulties. Such work will involve direct contact with people with communication difficulties as well as their carers and significant others in their lives. In the aim of enabling an individual to function to the best of their ability, an SLT may work directly with a person with communication difficulties but will also be involved in breaking down communication barriers by influencing and supporting those in the person's communication environment. Speech and language therapists are often supported by SLT assistants and co-workers.

Who Can be Treated?

Babies - with feeding and swallowing difficulties

Children - who may have: mild, moderate or severe learning difficulties; physical disability; language delay arising from any source, including deprivation; specific language impairment; specific difficulties in producing sounds; hearing impairment; cleft palate; stammering/dysfluency; autism/social interaction difficulties and dyslexia.

Adults - who may have: stroke - eating and swallowing and/or communication problems; neurological impairments and degenerative conditions including: head injury, parkinson's, MS, motor-neuron disease, dementia; cancer of the head, neck and throat - including laryngectomy; voice problems; mental health; learning difficulties; physical disability; stammering and hearing impairment.

Parkinson Disease Sufferers: Susan is trained to deliver the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) - a technique for improving the voice volume of patients with Parkinson's Disease and other neurological disorders. Most patients with Parkinsons Disease experience a decreased voice volume and decreased intelligibility of their speech as their disease progresses. The purpose of LSVT is to reverse that decline through vocal exercises; it is entirely safe and has lasting benefits.

Practitioners: Susan Olding