Speech therapy is a health profession specializing in evaluation and treatment of people who have speech, language, voice, fluency or swallowing disorders that affect their ability to communicate.
Why Is Speech Therapy Needed?
Four main causes can create a need for Speech Therapy:
1. Acquired, from a traumatic brain injury such as a car crash or workplace accident.
2. Degenerative, caused by Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), or head or neck cancer.
3. Neurologic, resulting from a CVA (stroke), leading to aphasia or dysarthria.
4. Developmental, caused by a delay or deficit, either physiological or neurological, such as autism, apraxia, auditory processing difficulties, or cleft palate. Speech and language services can be provided to infants, toddlers and school-aged children.
Swallowing disorders: Early evaluation and treatment of swallowing problems can prevent upper respiratory congestion and/or pneumonia. Speech-language pathologists work closely with radiologists to evaluate swallowing using modified barium swallow studies to help determine the level of severity of a swallowing problem which could result from a stroke, surgery, or GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux).
VitalStim Therapy is a completely new, breakthrough therapeutic intervention for use in the treatment of dysphagia (swallowing disorders). It is a specialized form of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), specifically designed to treat dysphagia. NMES has a proven, long-term track record in a wide variety of therapeutic and rehabilitative settings.
Services are provided on both an inpatient and outpatient basis. A physician's order must be obtained for evaluation and treatment. Speech Therapy treatment is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most other insurance carriers. Please contact your insurance company for more information on you benefits for Speech Therapy.
For more information, or an appointment, contact Jesse Guajardo, SLP, at (785) 890-3625 Ext. 4054.