Who Needs to See a Speech Therapist?
People of all ages seek treatment from a speech-language pathologist (or “speech therapist”) when they experience difficulties communicating or swallowing. These problems may have existed from birth or resulted from an illness, accident or disease and can significantly impact a persons self-esteem, motivation, socialization and quality of life. Anyone who experiences any of the following problems can benefit from speech therapy: • Speech Disorders: Difficulty producing speech sounds correctly. Children may have difficulty learning to articulate sounds correctly; acquired neurological disorders may result in weakness, slowness or coordination of the muscles used for speech or difficulty planning speech movements. • Language Disorders: Difficulty comprehending language or expressing ones thoughts; can also affect reading and writing. Children may have difficulty learning language and its rules. Aphasia is an acquired language disorder caused by damage to a specific area of the brain. • V
