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Imagine the next time you join a discussion about Speech Therapy. When you start sharing the fascinating Speech Therapy facts below, your friends will be absolutely amazed.

One of the not so noticed areas of rehabilitation medicine is Speech Therapy. In fact, a lot of people may not even know that something like this existed. It may be the case that this is your first time to encounter the field or you may have heard it somewhere, but don’t fully understand what the practice is all about.

The sad truth about Speech Therapy is that you may not encounter it unless the situation calls for it. However, getting to know what the practice is can be very beneficial information.

What Is Speech Therapy?

As the name suggests, speech therapy deals with speech problems that an individual may encounter. However, the field of Speech Pathology doesn’t only tackle speech, but also language and other communication problems that people may already have due to birth, or people acquired due to accidents or other misfortunes.

Speech therapy is basically a treatment that people of all ages can undergo through, to fix their speech. Although speech therapy alone would focus on fixing speech related problems like treating one’s vocal pitch, volume, tone, rhythm and articulation.

Goals Of Speech Therapy

Speech Therapy aims for an individual to develop or get back effective communication skills at its optimal level. Recovery mainly depends on the case and severity of your problem, especially if your speech problem is acquired, meaning you had normal speech skills before then you had an accident or abrupt incident that caused your current speech problem; thus, you may or may not get back your old level of speech function.

Speech Problems

Speech problems are mainly categorized into three namely: Articulation Disorders, Resonance or Voice Disorders and Fluency Disorders. Each disorder deals with a different pathology and uses different techniques for therapy.

Sometimes the most important aspects of a subject are not immediately obvious. Keep reading to get the complete picture.

Articulation Disorders

Articulation Disorders are basically problems with physical features used for articulation. These features include lips, tongue, teeth, hard and soft palate, jaws and inner cheeks. If you have an Articulation Disorder, then you may have a problem producing words or syllables correctly to the point that people you communicate to can’t understand what you are saying.

Resonance or Voice Disorders

Resonance, more popularly known as, Voice Disorders mainly deal with problems regarding phonation or the production of the raw sound itself. Most probably, you have a Voice Disorder when the sound that your larynx or voice box produces comes out to be muffled, nasal, intermittent, weak, too loud or any other characteristic not pertaining to normal.

Fluency Disorders

Fluency Disorders are speech problems with regard to the fluency of your speech. There are some cases that you talk too fast, in which people can’t understand you, thus, you have a Fluency Disorder of Cluttering. The most common Fluency Disorder however, is Stuttering, which is a disorder of fluency where your speech is constantly interrupted by blocks, fillers, stoppages, repetitions or sound prolongations.

Who Gives Speech Therapy?

A highly trained professional, called a SLP or a Speech and Language Pathologist, gives Speech Therapy. Speech and Language Pathologists are informally more popularly known as Speech Therapists. They are professionals who have education and training with human communication development and disorders.

Speech and Language pathologists assess, diagnose and treat people with speech, communication and language disorders. However, they are not doctors, but are considered to be specialists on the field of medical rehabilitation.

There’s no doubt that the topic of Speech Therapy can be fascinating. If you still have unanswered questions about Speech Therapy, you may find what you’re looking for in the next article.

About the Author
By Anders Eriksson, the creator of Auto Blog Feeder, an automatic blogging solution for WordPress

PROLAM-GM is an acronym for the various intervention and transfer strategies used in the management of stuttering. PROLAM, which stands for physiological adjustments, rate manipulation, operant controls, length and complexity of utterance, attitude changes, and monitoring, are the intervention strategies. GM, which stands for generalization and maintenance, are the transfer strategies.

Physiological Adjustments

Physiological adjustment strategies include tactics that manipulate bodily components known or thought to be involved in the production of stuttered speech. An example of this would be the attempt to use gentle contact between the articulators when talking.

The rationale behind this approach is that the physiological components necessary for the production of normal fluent speech are in some way used inappropriately when stuttering occurs. Therefore, the therapy tactics used will result in a ?readjustment? of the disordered component, or in use of compensatory behaviors and strategies.

Rate of Speech Manipulations

Use of a reduced speech rate to modify stuttering operates in the belief that: (a) reduction of rate results in simplification of the physiological speech processes, thus allowing easier synchronization or; (b) reduction in the rate of speech prevents the stutterer from anticipating feared stimuli that result in the production of the stuttering response.

The rate of the stutterer’s speech may be reduced by: prolongation, combining prolongation with continuous phonation, and using an instructional rate control method.

Operant Controls

Use of operant controls in the management of stuttering believes that if stuttering is an operant behavior (behaviors whose frequency or probability of occurrence are influenced by the consequences they generate), then its frequency will increase if it is reinforced, and its frequency of occurrence will decrease if it is punished.

Two of the most frequently used operant procedures for treating stuttering are positive reinforcement of fluency and punishment of stuttering.

Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there’s more to Speech Therapy than you may have first thought.

Length and Complexity of Utterance

Controlling the length and complexity of the stutterer’s utterance reduces stuttering and increases fluency. This technique is often used to increase fluent speech. Most of the approaches utilizing this technique combine manipulation of length and complexity of the client’s language with operant controls (punishment of stuttering and reinforcement of fluency).

Attitude

There are two components of stuttering namely: the feelings accompanying it and the speaking behaviors that are resulted from it. It is believed by some that to have a successful therapy, a balance of treating both factors should be done. That’s why attitude manipulation is done in some approaches while in other approaches it can be optional depending on the case of the client.

Monitoring

In the science of Speech Pathology, especially in the field of stuttering, there are a lot of meanings for the term ?monitoring’. Some say it’s a process in which the PWS becomes aware of what he is doing at the time he is doing it. Some say it is a specific form of consciousness where the act of speaking is raised from an automatic level to a purposeful level. Basically, it has three key components: self-awareness, deliberate control and self-feedback.

Generalization

The technical term for generalization is ?the occurrence of a relevant behavior under different nontraining conditions.? The term generalization is usually interchanged with ?transfer’ or ?carryover’.

Maintenance

Sometimes, when clients are able to achieve fluency, they think the fight is over. They forget to maintain their skills and in result they have a relapse with their stuttering. Maintenance refers to different after-treatment activities to help clients keep the skills they learned from therapy intact.

Some activities to help maintain skills are daily self-monitoring activities, regular clinic contacts, refresher programs and having self-help groups.

Those who only know one or two facts about Speech Therapy can be confused by misleading information. The best way to help those who are misled is to gently correct them with the truths you’re learning here.

About the Author
Anders Eriksson hands out nice gifts on these topics to all visitors: free adsense ebook and free adsense sites

The only way to keep up with the latest about Speech Therapy is to constantly stay on the lookout for new information. If you read everything you find about Speech Therapy, it won’t take long for you to become an influential authority.

Crouzon Syndrome is a condition that would require speech therapy. This is mainly because of the major features of the syndrome, which affect main physical components used for speech production, such as articulators.

Crouzon Syndrome

It is a result of premature closure of some cranial sutures and is also known as branchial arch syndrome as it specifically affects the first branchial arch where the maxilla and the mandible are developed. It is transmitted from generation to generation in an autosomal dominant manner.

How Often Does Crouzon Syndrome Occur?

As of year 2000, the demographics of Crouzon syndrome is that approximately one per twenty-five thousand live births have this condition. Crouzon syndrome also equally affects all kinds of ethnic groups.

Language Characteristics of Individuals with Crouzon Syndrome

The individual’s mental capacity dictates his/her ability to comprehend language. Unlike what some people think, not all individuals with Crouzon Syndrome have cognitive deficits. Usually, their mental capacity is in the normal range, which tells us that they are capable of acquiring language and using it as a means for communication.

These individuals have language skillswhich are at par with the skills of others of the same age. However, some still manifest significant mental developmental delay secondary to excessive intracranial pressure. In other cases, the presence of hearing problems contributes to the language acquisition difficulty.

Still in other cases, inappropriate breathing patterns make speaking difficult which in turn makes communication a tiring and an unpleasant experience.

Articulation Problems

If you find yourself confused by what you’ve read to this point, don’t despair. Everything should be crystal clear by the time you finish.

In some cases, an individual with Crouzon Syndrome may exhibit oral distortions of fricatives and affricatives especially sibilants and inconsistent distortions in productions of /r/ and /l/. Most of these errors are attributed to abnormal tongue placement as caused by the defective maxillomandibular relationship.

However, some individuals may display speech problems that are in no way related to their oral structures. Other speech manifestations are also characterized by denasalization of /m/, /n/. Problems in articulating bilabials and round vowels may also be present due to reduced skills in lip closure and lip rounding.

Voice Problems

Hypernasal speech is a common characteristic of individuals with Crouzon Syndrome. This is usually due to velopharyngeal insufficiency. Hyponasal speech may also present itself albeit less common. It is often due to nasal obstruction, which is surgically correctable.

These unusual resonance and speech patterns may either be a result of a small nose, high arched palate or the mandibular malocclusion. In terms of vocal quality, hoarseness may be present due to the development of vocal cord nodules in compensatory laryngeal activity.

Psychosocial-Emotional Problems

One psychosocial problem that individuals with Crouzon Syndrome face is the attractiveness vs. unattractiveness issue. Because of the prominent cranio-facial deformity these individual are often victims of bullying, teasing and social isolation.

The visual and hearing impairments often hinder the comfortable flow of communicative exchanges. They feel restricted and limited in their socializations, with a marked difficulty in socializing with the opposite sex. Some may even be treated as if they were less capable than their peers.

Most individuals with Crouzon Syndrome feel angry at society for demanding physical attractiveness. Although some of these issues may be generic, the people’s response varies. Some may become painfully shy and lose confidence.

And yet others may develop a rather strong character and work on proving to their community that they have worth and are just as good as everybody else.

So now you know a little bit about Speech Therapy. Even if you don’t know everything, you’ve done something worthwhile: you’ve expanded your knowledge.

The only way to keep up with the latest about Speech Therapy is to constantly stay on the lookout for new information. If you read everything you find about Speech Therapy, it won’t take long for you to become an influential authority.

The field of speech and language therapy is somewhat a vague body of knowledge that only a few people understand. What most people don’t know is that there is a difference between speech therapy as a whole and language therapy. Although the term ?speech and language’ therapy is widely used, since speech and language problems coexist most of the time.

Differentiating Speech And Language Therapy

The truth of the matter is, that speech therapy and language therapy differ in some key areas. First off, they differ on the problems that they are targeting. The techniques and activities used during therapy are also different. Although there are times that these activities are done simultaneously, to target two problems at a time.

Speech Therapy

Speech therapy is done to treat speech problems. Such speech problems deal with how or the manner a person speaks. These speech problems are categorized into three general kinds. First, is voice or resonation disorders. Second, is articulation disorders. And, lastly, fluency disorders.

Voice disorders mainly deals on problems with the voice box or the larynx itself. These may be due to physiological malfunction, anatomical differences, fatigue, or neurological problems. Some voice disorders present problems in pitch, volume, and tone. The presence of breathy, raspy, nasal and weak voice is viable too.

Articulation disorders, on the other hand, deal with the manner a person speaks. The problem is rooted from the articulators themselves. Articulators are composed of the tongue, teeth, hard palate, soft palate, jaw, and cheeks. Articulation disorders may be due to weakness or physiological malfunction in any of the articulators, which results to distorted or incomprehensible speech.

Most of this information comes straight from the Speech Therapy pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that you’ll know what they know.

Fluency disorders would deal on problems regarding the fluency of the person. It may be the case that he talks too fast or too slow. Stuttering and Cluttering are two of the major fluency problems that speech therapists deal with.

Speech therapy activities would likely include different exercises to practice speaking. Since most of the time, weak muscles are present; the therapy proper would usually include activities that can help strengthen these muscles. Different compensatory strategies are also taught, so that the patient can compensate for lost speaking skills.

Language Therapy

Language therapy mainly deals with problems regarding your inner language, receptive language and expressive language. Cognition skills can be the main cause of language problems. Unlike speech disorders, that manifest physical differences, most language disorders are due to problems the brain’s language processing.

Receptive language problems mainly deals on difficulties understanding received language, like what other people are telling you and comprehending written data. Expressive language problems on the other hand are difficulties on expressing oneself. You may have a hard time knowing which words to use verbally or even through writing.

Language based problems are usually treated through mental exercises. Workbooks are often used to practice and develop language skills. For very young children, play therapy is used to develop inner language, so that the therapist could later on target improving receptive and expressive language, respectively.

In some cases, speech and language problems are both present. This is especially true for individuals that had traumatic brain injuries or accidents that had an effect on the brain. They may manifest physiological problems due to damaged nerves that result to articulation or voice problems.

The can also have language problems like aphasia, especially if their brain was hit on its language areas.

Now you can be a confident expert on Speech Therapy. OK, maybe not an expert. But you should have something to bring to the table next time you join a discussion on Speech Therapy.

When you’re learning about something new, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relevant information available. This informative article should help you focus on the central points.

Teaching language to nonverbal, hearing-impaired children is in fact, a very controversial matter. The controversy stems from the idea that either of two goals is being targeted. One of which states that after language is learned, the child will be able to communicate orally; while the other states that the child will be able to communicate, not verbally, but manually.

Issues With This Approach

Although you may think that the best end goal would be a speaking child, some adult deaf groups would fiercely disagree. They believe that a hearing-impaired individual does not have to be verbal if only to be able to communicate with the rest of the population. For them, assimilation is not really a dream.

Although they aim to find some common grounds for communication, these groups do not really think it is necessary to learn spoken language just to take on the cultural traits of the verbal people.

And in respect to this claim, you have to understand that in some instances, language should be thought in completely nonverbal ways. The following are some of the means to facilitate language learning in nonverbal children.

British Sign Language (BSL)

This is a visual communication technique that incorporates the national or regional signs in Britain in a specified structure and is often taken as a language in its own. This kind of communication does not have a written form.

Manual English

This refers to all the communication systems that require signs, fingerspelling or gestures, which can appear separately or in combinations. This system keeps the word order and the correct syntactic form of the English language.

Signed English

This is the two-handed fingerspelling of the English language as based on British regional and national signs.

Most of this information comes straight from the Speech Therapy pros. Careful reading to the end virtually guarantees that you’ll know what they know.

Fingerspelling

This is where the fingers of the hand assume 26 different positions. These 26 positions symbolize the 26 letters of the English alphabet. The combinations of these positions enable the formation of words or sentences.

Cued Speech

This is a one-handed supplement to lip-reading and is often used to clarify the nebulous phonemes that have been detected through lip-reading.

Paget Gorman Systematic Sign Language

This is a system devised by Sir Richard Paget and is used to give a grammatical representation of the spoken English language. It utilizes constructed signs and hand positions that differ form those used in the Britain Sign Language.

Signs Supporting English

This is composed of signs for keywords that would assist oral communication and used at appropriate times during utterances.

Auditory-Verbal Therapy

On the other hand, an even bigger number of people believe that language should be taught to nonverbal individuals so that they might actually be able to produce their own utterances. One of the most noteworthy methods in developing spoken language in nonverbal children is through the Auditory-Verbal Therapy.

The primary goal of the Auditory-Verbal Therapy is to maximize the child’s residual hearing so that audition might be fully integrated to his/her personality and that he/she may be able to participate in the hearing society. Another goal would be to make mainstreaming a reasonable option in the future. Thus, suggesting that the child is as capable as any hearing child in a normal educational environment.

The general premise of the Auditory-Verbal Therapy is to focus on the Auditory Approach where the hearing-impaired child would be given instructions to listen and not to lip-read or sign. This way, the child would be capitalizing on his residual hearing and it would be easy for him to learn auditory skills since he would not be relying on signed speech.

That’s how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.