January 31, 2025

Effective Speech Therapy for Adults: Benefits and Strategies Explained

January 31, 2025

Effective Speech Therapy for Adults: Benefits and Strategies Explained

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Effective Speech Therapy for Adults: Benefits and Strategies Explained
there are numerous reasons why adults could benefit from speech therapy.

We often only think of children when we think of lisps and speech impediments. Yet, there are numerous reasons why adults could benefit from speech therapy.

There are many reasons why you might have a speech or language problem. Some problems start in childhood. Others happen after an illness or injury. A speech-language pathologist, or SLP, can help.

There’s no shame in seeking help with communication, pronunciation, comprehension, or other speech-related issues. In this article, we will discuss what speech therapy is, why it may be necessary for an adult, and how speech therapy for adults works.

What Exactly is Speech Therapy?

Speech Therapy for AdultsSpeech therapy involves evaluating and treating issues related to communication and speech disorders. This is done by professionals known as speech-language pathologists (SLPs), commonly known as speech therapists.

Adult speech therapy techniques can help improve communication skills. These methods may include articulation therapy, language intervention exercises, and other strategies, depending on the specific type of speech or language disorder a person has.

Causes of Speech Disorders

The medical field needs to fully understand the exact cause of every speech disorder, as it can vary from case to case. There are several possible causes of speech disorders, including:

Articulation Disorders

An articulation disorder happens when someone has difficulty communicating and pronouncing certain sounds correctly. A child with this issue may leave out, switch, change, or add sounds in words. For instance, distorting a word might involve saying “this” instead of “this.”

Fluency disorders impact how smoothly, quickly, and rhythmically someone speaks. Stuttering and cluttering are types of fluency disorders. A person who stutters finds it difficult to say a sound and might have speech that gets stuck, interrupted, or might repeat parts of a word. Someone who is cluttered often speaks too quickly, blending words.

Resonance Disorders

A resonance disorder occurs when something blocks or obstructs the airflow in the nose or mouth, changing the vibrations and affecting voice quality. This can also happen when the velopharyngeal valve fails to close properly. These disorders are commonly linked to conditions like cleft palate, neurological disorders, and swollen tonsils.

Receptive Disorders

A person with a receptive language disorder struggles to understand and process what others are saying. This can make you appear uninterested when someone speaks, need help following directions, or result in a small vocabulary. Other language issues, such as autism, hearing loss, or a head injury, can result in a receptive language disorder.

Expressive Disorders

Expressive language disorder refers to difficulty in communicating or expressing thoughts. If you experience an expressive disorder, you may need help to create accurate sentences, such as using the wrong verb tenses.

It’s often linked with developmental issues, including Down syndrome and hearing loss. It can also happen after head trauma or as a result of a medical condition.

Cognitive communication disorders refer to communication difficulties caused by an injury to the part of the brain responsible for thinking. These disorders can lead to problems with memory, problem-solving, and speaking or listening.

Aphasia

Aphasia is a communication disorder occuring after an injury and impacts a person’s ability to talk and understand. It often also affects the ability to read and write. Stroke is the most common reason for aphasia, although other brain conditions can also lead to it.

Dysarthria

Dysarthria is a condition that results in slow or difficult-to-understand speech because of weakness or an inability to properly control the muscles required for speaking. This condition is most often caused by disorders of the nervous system and health issues that impair the muscles in the face, throat, and tongue, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or a stroke.

Dysphasia And Swallowing Issues

Cancer and neurological conditions can affect the movement of the lips, jaw, tongue, throat, and larynx. This can make it difficult to swallow, chew, or speak clearly, so working with a speech therapist can help you regain or adjust to new movements for these functions.

You will likely be asked to have a swallowing test, in which you are given food to swallow while the therapist watches how your mouth and throat areas move on a monitor. The monitor harnesses X-ray technology to capture real-time images.

Voice Disorders

Anything that affects how your vocal cords move can lead to a voice disorder. These disorders can alter your pitch, volume, and tone. Examples of voice disorders include conditions like laryngitis, polyps, vocal cord paralysis, and spasmodic dysphonia. If you suffer from a voice disorder, your voice may shake, sound tight, be weak, or shift in pitch unexpectedly.

Dementia

Dementia is a broad term for conditions and diseases that affect a person's cognitive abilitiesDementia is a broad term for conditions and diseases that affect a person’s cognitive abilities. It can significantly disrupt a person’s daily life activities. Dementia impacts not just memory but also a person’s ability to communicate and use language.

Speech therapy can be beneficial in addressing this and assisting with the difficulties in eating, drinking, and swallowing that many people with dementia face.

Stuttering

Stuttering is a speech disorder that makes people repeat words, stretch them out, or struggle to pronounce certain sounds. Emotional states can influence stuttering, and feelings of tension or excitement can make it worse.

A speech therapist can assist adults with stuttering challenges by helping them manage their situational fears and practicing techniques to reduce stuttering.

Certain sounds might be hard to pronounce or complete, and the therapist will teach you strategies to handle these difficulties when speaking.

Acquired Apraxia

Apraxia is an impairment of speech and language abilities that is caused by brain injury, which may be due to brain disease or brain damage from a stroke or trauma. Adults with apraxia may have difficulty pronouncing words correctly, have speech errors and inconsistencies, and constantly grope for the right words. Your therapist will show you how to regain your speaking abilities again.

Speech Evaluations For Adults

Speech therapy starts with a thorough assessment to understand the individual’s needs. This can include formal or informal tests and a review of their medical background.

Depending on the nature of the issue, the speech therapist may use various people’s abilities to evaluate language comprehension, expression, fluency, pronunciation, executive functions, or social abilities.

Evaluations frequently include conversations so the therapist can observe the person’s communication style. The therapist may also speak with family members to gather more insights into the person’s communication difficulties.

Once the evaluation is finished, if treatment is necessary, the speech therapist will create a treatment plan based on what they’ve discovered. They will also suggest how often you should attend speech therapy sessions for the best results.

How Does Speech Therapy for Adults Work?

There are many different methods that speech therapy can use for adults. The treatment approach might differ depending on the cause of your speech difficulties and the goals you want to achieve through therapy. Speech therapy for adults usually includes these options:

• Target selection

• Contextual usage

• Contrast therapy

• Oral-motor therapy

Target selection focuses on addressing specific sounds you might be struggling with. For example, your speech therapist might concentrate on those sounds if you have a lisp when saying the “S” sound.

If you tend to stutter, your therapist might identify specific words or parts of a sentence that trigger the “tutte” ing a “d wo “k on “those” area.”

Contextual utilization breaks down words into individual syllables to use them as a basis for speech exercises. Splitting words into smaller, easier-to-handle parts is often helpful for re-learning or reinforcing word structures after a brain injury or degeneration.

Contrast therapy involves practicing words in pairs to highlight their differences. Examples of word pairs a speech therapist might use during contrast therapy are “dough” and “show” or “beat” and “feet.” These pairs are spelled differently but have similarities. Practicing these pairs can make beneficial distinctions for addressing specific speech and language challenges.

Oral-motor therapy targets the muscles of the face and mouth to enhance language and speech abilities. Strengthening and refining the muscles of the jaw, lips, tongue, and throat is crucial, and speech therapists provide helpful tools and exercises for improvement.

The duration of speech therapy for an adult depends on several factors

How Long Does Speech Therapy Last for Adults?

The duration of speech therapy for an adult depends on several factors, such as the person’s diagnosis, the severity of the diagnosis, how often speech therapy sessions are needed, and how involved an individual and caregivers/family are.

For example, someone with a TBI might need speech therapy services for only a few weeks or months if the injury to their brain is minor or moderate.

However, more severe injuries may require years of speech therapy services. Similarly, an individual with a degenerative disease, such as Parkinson’s, might also need months or years of speech therapy to attempt to maintain the functions that they currently have.

Preventing Adult Speech Impairment

Some kinds of speech problems in adults are impossible to stop from happeningSome kinds of speech problems in adults are impossible to stop from happening. However, you can take steps to reduce the chances of experiencing other types of speech issues. For example:

Avoid straining your voice by yelling or putting unnecessary pressure on your vocal cords. Reduce your risk of getting throat cancer by staying away from smoking and second-hand smoke exposure.

Protect yourself from brain injury by always wearing a helmet while biking, using protective gear during outdoor sports, and wearing a seatbelt while traveling in a car. Stay active with regular exercise, eat a balanced diet, and keep your blood pressure and cholesterol healthy to reduce stroke risk.

Limit how much alcohol you drink. Outlook for speech problems in adults: If you notice any unusual changes in your voice, it’s important to seek medical help.

Getting an early diagnosis and treatment can boost your chances for a better long-term outcome and prevent further complications.

Ask your healthcare provider for additional details about your:

• particular health condition

• available treatment alternatives

• future prognosis

If you’ve been told that you have a speech or voice disorder, it’s important always to have an ID card with you that states the name of your condition.

Also, always keep your emergency contact information in your pocket. This will be useful when you’re unable to explain your health problems and the type of help you require from others.

Do you need reliable and effective speech therapy for adults? Please reach out to us today!

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© 2024, Precision Speech Therapy. All Rights Reserved.

Forney Medical Plaza Building 2, 757 E U.S. Highway 80, Suite 160, Room A, Forney, Texas 75126