Adult

Aphasia
Aphasia impacts an individual's ability to express his/her thoughts and understand what is said or written by others. Aphasia is often the result of brain damage cause by a stroke or head injury.

Board certified speech language pathologists conduct evaluations and provide one-to-one treatment to individuals with receptive, expressive, and/or mixed aphasias. We employ a variety of traditional therapy techniques to assist the individual with aphasia with comprehension, expression, reading and writing. Compensatory strategies are implemented to assist individuals in daily communication exchange. We encourage family and caregiver involvement and provide education and training as needed.

Apraxia
Apraxia is a motor speech disorder and due to stroke or other neurological conditions, which results in damage to the parts of the brain which are associated with speaking. People with apraxia have difficulty sequencing oral motor movement patterns for the sounds in syllables and words. They are aware of what they want to say, but are unable to coordinate movements to produce the words.

Speech language pathologists perform evaluations to determine the nature and severity of the apraxia. The objective during therapy is to improve speech abilities and overall communication skills. Exercises are implemented which encourage the person to repeat sounds and practice the correct mouth movements for sounds.

Dysarthria
Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder resulting from neurological injury. Causes of dysarthria include Cerebral Palsy, stroke, tumors, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and other conditions which affect the nervous system. The muscles of the mouth, face, and respiratory system may become weak, move slowly, or not move at all. Dysarthria may be characterized by slurred speech, changes in vocal quality and slow rate of speech.

Treatment of dysarthria in speech therapy focuses on oral-motor exercises and educational training regarding use of compensatory speech intelligibility strategies.

Alaryngeal Speech
Total laryngectomy involves removal of the entire larynx (voice box). The surgery results in a complete separation between the airway and aero-digestive tract. Speech-language pathologists can provide information about the rehabilitative process, explain how changes in postoperative anatomy affect function and counsel individuals regarding communication and quality of life following the surgery.

There are three approaches used to restore oral communication after alaryngectomy; including artificial larynx (electrolarynx), esophageal speech,and tracheoesophageal prosthesis (TEP).

• The artificial larynx is a hand held battery powered device that produces electric sound, which is transmitted through the tissues of the neck, cheek,or delivered intraorally using an oral connector for speech production.
• Esophageal speech is produced by forcing air into to the top of the esophagus and expelling it out through your mouth. This air movement vibrates the walls of the esophagus and creates a "sound" of voice. Not everyone is able to produce this speech.Factors which may impede speech production include type of reconstruction and history of radiation.
• TEP requires a small surgically created puncture through the wall between the trachea and the esophagus. The opening is maintained by a prosthesis with a unidirectional valve that opens to divert airflow into the esophagus for sound production. The sound then moves up into the mouth, where the structures of the oral cavity shape the sound into words.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) provides a means of communication to those who cannot use speech as a primary method of communicating. AAC refers to all forms of non-verbal communication including picture boards and touch screen devices that are used to express needs, wants and thoughts and ideas. Individuals who may benefit from AAC include, but are not limited to, those who have the inability to communicate expressively as a result of stoke, head injury, spinal cord injury, cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and muscular dystrophy.

A comprehensive evaluation by a speech-language pathologist assesses an individual's communication needs, cognitive function and motor skills. Based upon an individual's overall functioning, an appropriate means of communication is recommended.

Pediatrics

Articulation
Articulation disorder is used to describe consistent errors produced during various speech sounds. A child with an articulation disorder often mispronounces individual speech sounds and words. These errors are frequently characterized by distorting, substituting, omitting, or adding sounds to words.

During the evaluation with a speech-language pathologist, speech skills are assessed using standardized tests and clinical observation during play activities. Treatment focuses on the remediation of the incorrect sound productions, using a variety of strategies.

Language
A language disorder refers to a child with atypical language development. Children are diagnosed with a language disorder if they have ongoing difficulty with the rules of language and conversation, meaning of words or sentences, vocabulary, or with grammar or word order.

During the evaluation with a speech-language pathologist, language skills are assessed using standardized tests and clinical observation during play activities.

Language Processing
Language processing disorders are defined as inappropriate or insufficient acquirement, understanding, and/or expression of spoken language. These difficulties can result in difficulty comprehending and using spoken or written language. A child with a language processing disorder may have trouble retrieving words and have incomplete thoughts or sentences. Additionally, the child may have difficulty using words that sound alike.