Many people automatically associate speech therapy with children. However, these aren’t the only patients who sometimes require the assistance of a speech therapist. Adult speech therapy is often needed to help adults with their speech problems. Many of these problems are ones that developed later in life rather than something that has been around since the person was a child. While the treatments are often similar, the reasons for the problem are often quite different.
Cancers
If you have been diagnosed and treated for cancers within the mouth and throat, it may have become more difficult for you to speak. Surgery often changes the shape of your mouth, which has a major impact on the way you speak. In essence, you will have to learn how to speak all over again. This requires plenty of practice and some coaching with a professional speech therapist who specializes in this area.
Brain Injuries
There are many causes of brain injuries. However, the results are often the same. An adult who has been traumatized by a brain injury, especially one that affects the right hemisphere of the brain, may need adult speech therapyto reteach the adult how to speak. The road to recovery from this type of injury is often long and requires the help of many doctors and therapists along the way. The speech therapy will be just a small portion of this treatment plan.
Stroke
A stroke is another time when speech therapy may become critical to teach an adult how to speak again. The brain is a sensitive organ. When a stroke occurs, it can alter the way a person speaks and even cause them to be unable to speak at all. In either case, working with an experienced speech therapist can help an adult regain the ability to communicate effectively through speech. This eliminates the frustrations of being unable to communicate in the way you used to.
As an adult, you wouldn’t think speech therapy would be a necessity. However, not all problems occur during childhood. If you have undergone treatment for some form of oral cancer, have been the victim of a brain injury or have experienced a stroke, adult speech therapy may become a necessary part of your treatment plan to get you on the road to recovery. With the help of the right therapist, you can regain your ability to speak well so you can resume communicating with everyone around you.
