Who Speech and Language Therapists help
a. Children and adults with communication difficulties including:
- - Understanding what others say
- - Remembering words and what they mean
- - Putting words together to make sentences
- - Pronouncing words correctly (as expected for their age)
- - Interacting socially with others
- - Selective mutism (only speaking in certain situations)
- - Stammering
- - Voice quality (for example, a constant hoarse voice)
- - Therapists also work with babies, children, and adults who have difficulties with feeding and/or swallowing.
b. Children or adults may need help with communication skills if they have diagnosed conditions including:
- - Acquired Brain injury (such as stroke)
- - Autism
- - Cleft Palate
- - General learning difficulties
- - Otitis Media, otherwise known as ‘glue ear’. This can cause intermittent hearing impairment
- - Progressive neurological disorders (such as Parkinsons disease)
- - Verbal dyspraxia (a motor coordination difficulty affecting pronunciation)
- - Vocal cord nodules
- - It is often not possible to identify a particular cause for a speech and language difficulty.
c. Speech and language therapists may also liaise with the following relevant people:
- - Parents and families
- - Carers
- - Teachers
- - Friends
- - Colleagues
