What Is It?
A person with communication difficulty may have problems speaking, hearing, understanding, reading and writing. Communication deficits can occur due to numerous conditions, such as a stroke, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), brain injury, multiple sclerosis, head and neck cancer, and dementia, among other causes.
Communication deficits that affect speech include:
- The inability to think of the correct word (anomia)
- The inability to say the correct word even when it is known but there is brain damage that affects the ability to move the mouth correctly even when muscles are strong enough (apraxia of speech)
- Slurred speech due to brain damage that affected the strength of speech muscles (dysarthria)
- Voice problems that impact the ability to understand speech (dysphonia, aphonia, spasmodic dysphonia, etc.)
- Language difficulties due to brain damage that impact speech and possibly other modes of communication (aphasia)
How We Treat It
The Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) at Salude are the professionals who address speech, language, communication, cognition (thinking) and swallowing disorders. For a communication deficit, the SLP will work on producing a normal voice, word finding, sentence production, problem solving, understanding what is heard, reading and writing. The SLP can also train the use of gestures or an alternative or augmentative communication (AAC) device if needed. The SLP will also determine if a hearing problem needs further assessment by an audiologist.
What You Can Expect
Ongoing research is always finding new ways to improve communication disorders, and SLPs at Salude are committed to keeping up with those changes.
