Speech Therapy
Manual Physical Therapy
RPI Therapy Services offer speech therapy performed by speech-language pathologists. They diagnose and treat language and communication disorders, and swallowing disorders.
Speech-language pathologists evaluate and treat people with speech, language, and voice disorders, and swallowing issues. They work with people of all ages and a variety of disorders.
Common issues that speech-language pathologist work with:
- Speech disorders – difficulty producing speech sounds or fluency
- Language disorders – trouble with understanding others or difficulty sharing ideas or thoughts
- Social communication disorders – struggling with social use of verbal and nonverbal communication
- Cognitive-communication disorders – problems with organizing thoughts, remembering, and/or problem-solving
- Swallowing disorders – issues with feeding and swallowing
Working with these issues are necessary as a person ages. Speaking and swallowing are an integral part of life and can improve your quality of life. RPI’s speech language pathologist specialize in seniors and those with disabilities. Commons ways speech therapy can help are:
- To improve your ability to speak: Speech therapy is designed to facilitate and improve the ability to verbally communicate. Although remembering how to pronounce words can be a difficult task, employing the services of a speech-language pathologist will build the confidence needed to improve language skills.
- To improve your ability to swallow food: Speech therapy can also help seniors with their swallow reflexes and increase comfort during meals. By doing this, it also reduces the risk of choking.
- To strengthen weakened vocal cords: As we age, vocal cords are more likely to become less elastic and as a result, the larynx muscles weaken. This makes communication more difficult. Speech therapy is designed to provide vocal exercises that strengthen vocal cords and ultimately help individuals learn how to speak again.
- To help patients with memory loss: Speech therapy is also beneficial to seniors who have problems with memory loss. It does this by preserving the function of the brain that is associated with communication. Speech therapy also addresses the cognitive aspects of problem solving, attention, communication, and memory.
- To help stroke victims: Speech therapy is in most cases, immediately recommended to individuals after they suffer a stroke. Aphasia is a communication disorder that affects an individual’s ability to speak after a stroke. Research has shown that one out of every four stroke survivors will experience aphasia. It is very important to begin speech therapy after experiencing a stroke because it increases the chances of recovering one’s ability to speak again.
To learn more about our speech therapy program or schedule an evaluation with a speech therapist, call one of our locations. It is provided at the Clayton, Gambrill Gardens, and Park Plaza locations.