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What is speech pathology?
Speech pathology is a service available to individuals of all ages, infants through to aged care, to address speech, language, voice, fluency, cognitive or swallowing difficulties.
What do you need to do to receive speech pathology services from Brindabella Hearing Centre?
A doctor’s referral is not required to receive speech pathology services. However, your doctor, specialist or other health professional may recommend you attend speech pathology as part of a comprehensive intervention program.
What is covered by our Speech Pathology services?
- Articulation and phonological disorders / delays
- Language delays (expressive and receptive)
- Auditory processing disorders and hearing impairment
- Fluency / stuttering disorders
- Swallowing disorders
- Cognitive / language deficits
- Dysarthria / apraxia of speech
- Voice disorders
Articulation / phonology
Articulation and phonology disorders are errors in the person's speech sounds. For example a person may say “w” for “r” (wabbit instead of rabbit).
Language delays
Language development depends on the child’s age. As a child grows their language should expand. Some examples: by 12 months of age your child should begin to develop one or more words; by 18 months they should have about 20 words; and by the age of two years the child should be combining two words together.
Auditory processing disorders / hearing impairment
Children with auditory processing difficulties have normal hearing and levels of intellect, but the brain
has difficulty interpreting the auditory signals received through the ear and the auditory nerve. By training the brain to recognise auditory stimuli – specifically speech – speech pathology intervention can greatly improve the ability to comprehend auditory information.
Fluency / stuttering disorders
Stuttering, also referred to as fluency of speech, is a disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the child is unable to produce sounds or words.
Swallowing disorders
Swallowing disorders occur when certain foods and fluids become difficult to chew or swallow and can result in coughing, choking, or food or fluid entering the lungs. This is called aspiration and can lead to pneumonia. Infants can experience difficulties with breast or bottle feeding or transitioning to solids or cup drinking. Adults can experience difficulties after stroke, traumatic brain injury, from degenerative diseases such as motor neurone disease, or as part of the ageing process.
Cognitive / language deficits
After a traumatic brain injury or stroke, a person’s language or cognitive skills can be impaired. Cognitive areas affected may include: short-term memory; long-term memory; problem solving; reasoning; ability to answer questions appropriately; receptive or expressive aphasia (a loss of the ability to produce or comprehend language).
Dysarthria / apraxia of speech
These conditions can result from stroke and will affect an individual's production or clarity of speech.
Dysarthria affects the muscles of the mouth, face and respiratory system. Muscles may become weak, move slowly or not move at all after a stroke or other brain injury. The type and severity of dysarthria depends on the area of the nervous system affected.
Apraxia of speech, also known as verbal apraxia or dyspraxia, is a motor speech disorder caused by damage to parts of the brain related to speaking. People with apraxia of speech have difficulty sequencing the sounds in syllables and words. The severity depends on the nature of the brain damage. Apraxia of speech can also occur as a speech disorder in young children.
Voice disorders
Voice disorders include a group of problems involving abnormal pitch, loudness, intonation, vocal quality, resonance and rate of speech. Speech Pathologists work closely with Ear Nose and Throat Specialists during assessment and diagnosis of voice disorders.
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