Importance of Speech Therapy for Seniors

The ability to communicate well is necessary for senior people to avoid emergencies. If our loved ones cannot communicate properly what they need or how they feel, we will be unable to keep them healthy and happy.  But, sometimes our senior loved ones can fall prey to the hands of stroke or a major head injury that can have an impact on their speech, and in this case, speech therapy is required to recover speech. Elder Care Services in Kolkata offer rehab assistance services like physiotherapy services, speech therapy, and many more that you can avail for your senior loved ones to make them feel relaxed and comfortable.

Today, let us focus on the importance of speech therapy for our senior loved ones

→  Speech Therapy for our senior loved ones is necessary if they have suffered a stroke and are recovering from the debilitating consequences of a stroke or dementia. 

→  It may also be required after a major head injury. The ability to communicate well is necessary for senior people to avoid emergencies.

→  As one grows older, vocal cords can become less elastic and larynx muscles can weaken, making it difficult to talk in a manner they are accustomed to. Speech Therapy can help our loved ones re-learn how to speak

→  It is also important after suffering a stroke. The language impairment followed by a stroke is known as aphasia, which is a communication disorder impairing a person’s ability to use and comprehend language.  Recovering speech is possible if the treatment is started immediately.

Speech Therapy for seniors mainly aims to increase functional communications, cognitive skills and teach safe swallowing methods through special feeding techniques and diet modifications. A  Speech-language pathologist specializes in treating speech, language, voice, swallowing problems of our senior loved ones. The speech-language pathologist can determine if the problem is language-based or others and how to take care of it after a thorough evaluation. Other factors also need to be looked at to rule out medications, depression, dehydration, etc. as part of the problem.

The treatment may include 
• Art therapy
• Melodic intonation therapy (singing words they cannot speak)
• Visual Speech perception(associating words  with pictures) therapy
• Group therapy and support groups

This blog highlights the importance of speech therapy for your senior loved ones, especially those who have speech impairment after suffering a stroke or a major head injury or for some other major health-related issues. Speech Therapy can help your beloved seniors feel much better, more confident, and relaxed.