speech language pathologist

speech language pathologist

The Importance of Speech Language Pathologists

1. The Role of Speech Language Pathologists

The SLP works with many age groups. From babies to the elderly, an SLP can help prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat disorders of speech and language. There are many different settings in which the SLP can work. They may be employed in a hospital as was the case during World War II. They can work in schools with children, assisting in the identification and treatment of speech language disorders that can hinder a child’s learning. With the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, there will be an increased need for SLPs in the treatment of a growing population of elderly persons with speech and language disorders.

Less than 100 years ago, disorders of speech and language were thought to be psychological in nature. There was little help that could be offered to those suffering from such a disorder. It was not until the 1920s when speech correctionists began working with individuals with disordered speech. The field as we know it today came into being during World War II, as a response to soldiers returning with head injuries. These injuries were treated in rehabilitation facilities and as a result, a new type of therapist was created. In the 1950s, the professional organization now called The American Speech-Language and Hearing Association was established. Since this time, the field of speech language pathology has rapidly expanded and developed. Today, the speech language pathologist is involved in many facets of education, prevention, assessment, and rehabilitation of communication disorders.

In order to understand the role of speech language pathologists (SLPs), it is necessary to first understand what a communication disorder is. A communication disorder can be described as a generic term that refers to any impairment in the ability to receive, send, process, and comprehend concepts of verbal or non-verbal language. A communication disorder may be evident in the processes of hearing, language, and/or speech. A communication disorder impacts an individual’s ability to effectively communicate with others and can often lead to frustration and social isolation. Now that it is understood what a communication disorder is, one can now explore the role of the SLP in identifying and treating this disorder.

2. Evaluating and Diagnosing Communication Disorders

It is extremely important to effectively evaluate a child’s speech and language ability to determine whether an impairment does, in fact, exist, the type of impairment, and the best method of treatment. SLPs can diagnose a communication disorder and provide input to general medical diagnosis since the relevant information can only be attained through the field of speech pathology. This should be done through a systematic approach which includes case history, observation, interviews with informal and formal testing, to make an informed diagnosis which will then guide the creation of outcomes and goals. This is crucial as a misplaced diagnosis will lead to inappropriate treatment and may exacerbate the problem. In some cases, a disorder may be a secondary impairment stemming from another primary condition (e.g. cerebral palsy). In these cases, the SLP will need to work alongside other professionals to address the disorder’s affect on the client’s communication and to monitor changes as the client undergoes treatment for the primary condition.

Navigating through the sea of disorders and delays that affect a child’s ability to communicate can be quite difficult. Speech and language pathologists have the training and knowledge to help distinguish between disordered and delayed speech and language. A delay can be identified when a child is developing speech and language at a slower rate than the average developing child. In some cases, a child’s delay may correct itself and pose no further problems with language acquisition in the future. A disorder, however, indicates that a child is using and understanding language in an atypical way and without intervention is unlikely to improve without treatment.

3. Developing Individualized Treatment Plans

The speech and language pathologist (SLP) working with clients with communication impairments often find it hard to have a one-size-fits-all approach to therapy. Visualizing the end state of therapy and how the client and family will get there is an important step in deciding what goals to set and how they are to be achieved. This is often done when creating a language map or timeline with the family. In an attempt to provide more detail about the desired end state, Van Riper has suggested writing postcards from the future. These postcards aim to be a vision of triumph and depict the scenario where, with persistence and hard work, the client has solved their communication problem. The vision should be shared with the client and their family, and it will often become a source of motivation throughout the therapy process.

Developing individualized treatment plans is considered a fundamental component of speech therapy services. The treatment plan should be tailored to the individual and family, as well as the disorder. It is suggested that the demographic variables should be considered first when making decisions about what goals to set and how they are to be achieved. For example, if the client is a preschool-age child, the plan might include more family involvement and home programming activities carried out at home. Age, gender, and socio-economic status can all affect the way in which the client will react to therapy and its outcome. This means that the speech and language pathologist must be flexible in their approach, and it may mean revising some goals and the way in which these are achieved over time.

4. Implementing Therapy Techniques and Strategies

To know what kind of technique or strategy to use, a clinician must be well acquainted with the specific details of the client’s disorder. This is why it is important to earn a complete and detailed understanding of the disorder in graduate school. Knowledge of the disorder will allow the clinician to hypothesize about why a client makes the errors he or she does, and from this, the clinician can attempt to discern which therapy techniques or strategies would be most beneficial in remediating the client’s errors.

General therapy techniques for a language disorder consist of drill, modeling, recasting, and expansion, as well as specific strategies and methods such as linguistic manipulation, focused stimulation, and milieu teaching. A very simplified description of these terms is that drill is when the clinician tells the client what to say, modeling is when the clinician says a phrase and the client imitates it, recasting and expansion is correcting the client’s syntactical and morphological errors, and the specific strategies and methods as described are just that: ways to stimulate a specific response for a specific purpose.

5. Collaborating with Other Professionals for Holistic Care

Speech language pathologists have a very important job. SLPs treat a wide range of speech and language disorders. They work with all ages and all levels of physical and mental ability. They can help someone who stutters, someone with a lisp, a child with language delay. They are also able to help people who have had an accident that resulted in brain damage, and people who may have a mental disability, and a patient with Alzheimer’s just to name a few. This is an extremely important job. Speech and language is a huge part of the way we communicate and see the world around us. It is the means by which we are able to express our inner thoughts and emotions, and the way in which we are able to understand others. Without effective speech and language, it becomes impossible to live any sort of a normal life. Being an SLP requires a significant amount of previous coursework in order to be effective and knowledgeable when treating patients. SLPs must have a high degree of empathy and kindness, but they must also be emotionally strong. Many patients suffering from speech and language disorders mentioned earlier have a difficult time coming to terms with their disability. It is an SLP’s job to help these patients through the difficult times from beginning to end. This may be difficult at times, especially when working with patients with severe disorders, but it could be a very rewarding experience in the end. Once a patient is taken under the care of an SLP, the first step is to analyze the disorder and set up a program catered to their specific needs. This can be done in a number of ways. An SLP may use formal tests asking the patient to perform specific tasks and answer questions. They may also use informal tests and converse with the patient asking certain questions and looking for specific answers. An SLP may also analyze existing medical reports or talk with family members regarding the patient to get a better understanding of them. Any and all information gathered is used to get a better understanding of the way the patient is communicating now as well as what to expect further down the road.