“What's speech therapy like for adults?”
I took my child to speech therapy so many years ago, and I know they played games and such to help her speak. My mother now has to have speech therapy after suffering from a stroke, which caused her words to slur. I have no idea what speech therapy is like for adults. What should we expect to happen in her sessions?
8 Answers
It will vary, but you can expect them to work with her on functional phrases, vocabulary that is pertinent to her day-to-day activities, following routines, practicing sentence structure, etc. I recommend that your mother see an SLP quickly post-stroke! I wish you and your mother the best! Serena Mueller, M.A., CCC-SLP Silver Creek Speech & Language, LLC 730 Parkway Dr. http://www.silvercreekspeech.com/ 435-565-1509 Please consider leaving us a https://g.page/r/Cba7UiWdqKhZEAI/review as we grow our business in Summit County! We would truly appreciate it!
I'm glad you reached out with this question. It's great to hear that you're seeking information to support your mother's journey through speech therapy after her stroke. Adult speech therapy, especially for slurred speech due to a stroke, is a bit different from the speech therapy sessions for children, but the core aim is the same: improving communication.
After a stroke, the initial step in speech therapy is to conduct a thorough evaluation. This means the therapist will assess your mother's ability to produce sounds, observing her muscle coordination and how well she can pronounce syllables, words, and sentences and engage in longer forms of speech.
The treatment is highly personalized and tailored to your mother's specific needs. If she struggles with certain sounds or words, the therapy will focus on those. The sessions might include exercises to strengthen the muscles used in speech, practicing the pronunciation of challenging words, or working on the rhythm and flow of speech to make it more understandable.
For instance, a typical session could involve practicing syllable combinations, moving on to words and then sentences, depending on her progress. Activities aimed at improving breath control and pacing, which are crucial for clear speech, may also be included. The therapist might use various tools and techniques, including visual aids, repetition exercises, and even technology-assisted therapies, to facilitate improvement.
The ultimate goal is to enhance your mother's speech clarity, aiming for the highest level of understandable speech possible. The focus is not just on individual sounds or words but on ensuring she can be understood in everyday conversations.
Every person's recovery journey is unique, and progress can vary. The therapist will continually assess and adjust the therapy plan to align with her evolving needs. Your support, encouragement and a skilled therapist can make a significant difference in her recovery.
I hope this gives you a clearer picture of what to expect in adult speech therapy sessions for slurred speech due to a stroke. Feel free to ask if you have more questions or need further assistance!
After a stroke, the initial step in speech therapy is to conduct a thorough evaluation. This means the therapist will assess your mother's ability to produce sounds, observing her muscle coordination and how well she can pronounce syllables, words, and sentences and engage in longer forms of speech.
The treatment is highly personalized and tailored to your mother's specific needs. If she struggles with certain sounds or words, the therapy will focus on those. The sessions might include exercises to strengthen the muscles used in speech, practicing the pronunciation of challenging words, or working on the rhythm and flow of speech to make it more understandable.
For instance, a typical session could involve practicing syllable combinations, moving on to words and then sentences, depending on her progress. Activities aimed at improving breath control and pacing, which are crucial for clear speech, may also be included. The therapist might use various tools and techniques, including visual aids, repetition exercises, and even technology-assisted therapies, to facilitate improvement.
The ultimate goal is to enhance your mother's speech clarity, aiming for the highest level of understandable speech possible. The focus is not just on individual sounds or words but on ensuring she can be understood in everyday conversations.
Every person's recovery journey is unique, and progress can vary. The therapist will continually assess and adjust the therapy plan to align with her evolving needs. Your support, encouragement and a skilled therapist can make a significant difference in her recovery.
I hope this gives you a clearer picture of what to expect in adult speech therapy sessions for slurred speech due to a stroke. Feel free to ask if you have more questions or need further assistance!
Speech therapy for adults should attempt to improve functional communication or use adaptive strategies to assist the patient with resuming functional communication in their daily lives. This is often done with functional communication tasks, repetition, naming tasks, script training., etc... Additionally strengthening exercises for the face, tongue, lips may be needed to improve speech intelligibility. There will be tasks to do at home with caregivers to promote carry-over. This is a long process and will take possibly years to see max improvement. I hope your mother has a speedy recovery and resumes her favorite activities.
Sometimes games are used for adults, such as card games, dominos, and checkers but not all the time. At times drill work is used to help with apraxia or oral motor exercises are given to help with dysarthria. It really depends on the patient and their needs.
Terlenda Lassiter
Speech-Language Pathologist
It really depends on the speech therapist and on your mother's needs. If she has dysarthria (slurred speech) then she may work on breath control, overarticulation, overexaggerated movements, strategies on enunciation so her words are more clearly understood in known and unknown context, etc. If she has aphasia-where she has difficulty with language, then she'll get exercises to work on that as well. It really looks individualized to the needs of the person.
Hello. Speech therapy is conducted to fit the lifestyle of the patient. Children learn through games and fun mixed with functional activities. Adult speech therapy will be conducted with real life functional items and activities. Adult therapy consists of education and instruction. For example, if swallowing is being worked on, therapy sessions may take place during meal time. If not at meal time, food will be involved. The patient will educated of what is and isn't safe to eat. Swallow strategies will be taught etc. I hope this helps.
It depends on what type of stroke your mother had. If it was on the right side of the brain, then more cognitive therapy; but, if the stroke was on the left side of the brain, there will be more language therapy.
Hi,
Therapy will be catered toward your mother and her specific deficits at this time. The speech language pathologist she sees will complete an assessment to find out what those deficit areas are. Some examples of what treatment may look like includes: having conversations and answering questions on different topics or various oral motor exercises. It all depends on her specific areas of need. I hope this helps.
Thank you
Therapy will be catered toward your mother and her specific deficits at this time. The speech language pathologist she sees will complete an assessment to find out what those deficit areas are. Some examples of what treatment may look like includes: having conversations and answering questions on different topics or various oral motor exercises. It all depends on her specific areas of need. I hope this helps.
Thank you
