Speech Therapy Services Options For Seniors
Speech therapists help older adults with speech and maintain swallowing/muscle control in the neck. Speech therapy isn’t a one-size-fits-all service. A therapist works with your mom to determine the best services for her needs.
These professionals help diagnose and treat communication, language, and speech disorders. The therapies your mom needs depend on what disease or condition she faces. Explore the different speech therapy services commonly available across the U.S.
Aphasia and Apraxia Therapy
If your mom had a stroke or has dementia, she may struggle to coordinate the muscles in her mouth and throat in order to speak or swallow foods. Her lips, tongue, mouth, and vocal cords need to work together. Apraxia therapy helps work on getting these different parts of her body to work together to help with speech and swallowing.
Aphasia therapy helps learn techniques to understand written words while reading. She might not quickly process the words that are read or spoken, and her therapist will help with that.
Articulation Therapy
Is your mom having a hard time pronouncing certain words or syllables after a stroke or brain injury? If she suddenly struggles with certain sounds, speech therapy is very beneficial. A speech therapist works with her on relearning how to sound out words.
Auditory Processing Therapy
Does your mom struggle to process the things she’s told? Auditory processing therapy helps build better skills in listening and processing what’s being said.
Expressive Language Therapy
Alzheimer’s is a common health issue, and it comes with many problems. One of them is that expressing yourself becomes a problem. Your mom may become frustrated when trying to express her thoughts and wishes, which can lead to frustration that causes her to give up. Speech therapy helps her find ways to express herself.
Fluency Therapy
Stuttering is one area where fluency therapy helps. A speech therapist can help your mom find ways to prevent the blocks that cause stutters or speech interruptions or speech that’s too fast to understand.
Hearing Loss Speech Therapy
If your mom can’t hear as well as she used to, it makes it hard for her to speak. She can’t hear her volume level or enunciation to know if she’s speaking well.
She also needs to figure out what others are saying to her. Hearing loss speech therapy helps her figure out how to decode what others are telling her, or how to ask for them to write items down or speak slowly so that she can read lips.
Social Language Therapy
After a stroke or traumatic brain injury, your mom may struggle to read other people. If she’s struggling to interact with family members and friends because she cannot understand their intonation or when something isn’t socially appropriate, a therapist can help her interact effectively and learn to read others.
Speech therapy helps with many conditions and illnesses ranging from Alzheimer’s to throat cancers. Therapists can help with speech skills after a stroke or injury to the throat in an accident. Talk to your mom’s doctors and then arrange an initial consultation with a speech therapist.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Speech Therapy in Arlington County, VA, please contact the caring staff at LivinRite Home Care. Call Us Today at (703) 634-9991. Serving Northern Virginia, The Valley, and Surrounding Communities.
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