If you’ve been diagnosed with a neurological disorder, it may affect your speech, language, or swallowing abilities.
If so, the speech-language pathologists at Aurora Speech Clinic can help.
We offer speech-language pathology services for neurological disorders.
What are Neurological Disorders?
Neurological conditions are injuries or illnesses that can change your brain’s ability to function as it once did.
They can be present from birth, or may be acquired, like a traumatic brain injury, stroke or brain tumor.
Some neurological conditions progress, or worsen, over time, like Parkinson’s Disease, ALS or dementia.
If you’ve been diagnosed with a neurological disorder, it can affect your cognitive or communication skills, impacting many aspects of day to day life.
It may cause difficulties with basic tasks, like eating and drinking, or more complex tasks, like maintaining a busy work schedule or household.
No two people face the same difficulties.
In particular, neurological conditions can affect your:
Cognitive Communication Skills
your attention, memory, problem-solving and executive function skills
Swallowing Skills
your ability to safely and efficiently transport food and drink from your lips to your stomach
Speech Motor Skills
your speech clarity, voice or rate of speech
Language Skills
your speaking, understanding, reading and writing skills
What Is Parkinson’s Disease?
Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive neurological disorder that affects muscle movement.
Most people with Parkinson’s Disease develop a tremor, slowness and stiffness of movement, poor balance and muscle rigidity. Some people also experience non motor symptoms, such as depression, bowel and bladder habit changes, and cognitive changes.
In Parkinson’s Disease, brain cells that create dopamine, a chemical that carries signals throughout the brain, begin to die.
This impacts the system responsible for automatic muscle movement, like swinging your arms when you walk, as well as movements involved in speaking and swallowing.
How Can Speech Therapy Help With Parkinson’s Disease?
Most people with Parkinson’s Disease experience speech, voice and swallowing changes as the disease progresses.
Common complaints include muffled or quiet speech, slurred speech, and hoarse vocal quality.
Aurora Speech Clinic is excited to offer SPEAK OUT! and LOUD Crowd.
These are unique approaches to speech therapy for Parkinson’s disease and other similar movement disorders. We offer them in both individual and group sessions.
SPEAK OUT! focuses on living (and speaking) with INTENT, helping people with Parkinson’s Disease improve and maintain their speech and communication skills while also minimizing swallowing difficulties.
If you or a loved one have received a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease and are experiencing speech or swallowing symptoms, our adult speech therapy services can help.
What Is Considered A Traumatic Brain Injury Vs Concussion?
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is typically caused by a violent hit to the head or body. Traumatic brain injuries have wide ranging physical, cognitive and psychological symptoms. These symptoms depend on the type of injury, the severity of the injury, and the area of your brain affected.
Concussion is a type of mild traumatic brain injury.
Despite its characterization as “mild”, a concussion can cause serious and long lasting symptoms, including:
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Headaches that feel like “pressure” in your head
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Dizziness
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Light sensitivity
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Poor balance
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Irritability
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Depression
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Difficulty sleeping
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Forgetfulness
From a speech-language pathology perspective, a concussion can cause a number of different symptoms, including:
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Difficulty finding words
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Slurred speech
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Memory issues
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Slow processing speed
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Difficulty concentrating
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Impaired problem solving skills
Many people remain symptomatic for weeks to months following concussion, and repeated or severe injury can have lifelong effects.
How Can Speech Therapy Help With Concussions And Traumatic Brain Injury?
Here at Aurora Speech Clinic, we offer speech-language pathology treatments for concussion and traumatic brain injury.
In particular, we can treat symptoms related to changes in cognition and communication whether short lived or long standing.
If you or a loved one has experienced a concussion or traumatic brain injury, Aurora Speech Clinic can help.
We can create a graduated plan to help you return to school, work, play and other activities of daily life.
What Is A Stroke?
A stroke, sometimes called a “brain attack,” occurs when blood flow in the brain is disrupted by a blockage or burst blood vessel.
When this occurs, a part of the brain can become damaged or die.
As with traumatic brain injury, stroke symptoms vary greatly.
They depend on how long your stroke lasts, what area of your brain was affected, and how severely.
In particular, however, stroke can cause issues with your speech motor skills, expressive and receptive language skills, cognitive skills, and your ability to swallow.
How Can Speech Therapy Help With Stroke?
If you or a loved one have had a stroke, the speech-language pathologists at Aurora Speech Clinic can help.
Keeping patience and compassion at the front of their mind, your adult speech therapist will take the time to understand how your stroke has affected you.
From there, they will put together a treatment plan designed to address these affected areas.
The goal is to help you rebuild your ability to communicate.
If you or a loved one has experienced a stroke, our adult speech therapy services can help.
What Is Aphasia?
If you’ve had a stroke or traumatic brain injury, it may cause aphasia.
Aphasia is a language disorder that impacts your ability to speak, understand, read and/or write.
It’s most commonly caused by a traumatic brain injury or illness, like stroke. However, it can also be caused by a brain tumour or other neurological disorders, like dementia.
There are several types of aphasia, which can affect language skills in different ways. Aphasia does not impact intelligence, though a change in language skills can mask a person’s intellect.
If you have aphasia, you may experience difficulty finding or using the right words, speaking in full sentences, or understanding the speech of others. Like other communication disorders, no two people with aphasia are exactly the same.
How Can Speech Therapy For Aphasia Help?
Living with aphasia can have a profound impact on your identity, relationships, and ability or desire to interact with the world.
If you have been diagnosed with aphasia as a result of a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other neurological condition, reach out today.
Your speech-language pathologist here at Aurora Speech Clinic can help you to maximize your communication skills and participation in daily life.