Top 5 Reasons To Refer To Speech-Language Pathology

By Jessica Prebor, MS, CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist

To make stronger and longer lasting gains, patients must be able to participate in treatment effectively and follow through on home programs.

Speech-language pathology is an underutilized resource. Recent research on outpatient rehabilitation services among community-dwelling older adults found only 6 percent of a total of 4.8 million rehabilitation episodes included speech-language pathology. According to research published by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, the majority of therapy services address impairments in movement, weakness, pain, and balance, while significantly less address treatment for memory, chewing, speaking, and breathing.

Rehabilitation is not only important for improving gait, balance, and self-care. It is vital for patients to be able to carry out these tasks safely and effectively. They also need to be able to communicate their needs with you and understand the medical recommendations prescribed to them. Again, patients’ participation in treatments and home programs lead to stronger and longer lasting gains. This is where speech-language pathology comes in.

Speech-language pathology encompasses much more than the name suggests. Speech-language pathologists specialize in a variety of areas including cognition, swallowing, communication, and voice. They can teach strategies to compensate for memory loss; provide exercises to strengthen muscles for eating, speaking, and breathing; and educate families/caregivers to increase self-efficacy in caring for a loved one.

Knowledge and use of this vital resource facilitate optimal rehabilitation outcomes for older adults. It is important to understand the services available and signs to look for to meet the needs of our country’s rapidly growing older adult population.

FIVE SIGNALS YOU SHOULD REFER TO SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY

FORGETFULNESS

People of all ages experience some struggle with memory; however, forgetfulness affects older adults more significantly and those with cognitive impairment even more. Short-term memory deficits can impact your patient’s ability to remember to use assistive devices, complete exercise programs, take medications on schedule, and recall appointments. It can also cause embarrassment due to the difficulty of recalling familiar information.

Memory strategy training can greatly improve your patient’s safety, increase their ability to follow through with self-care and medical instructions, and increase self-confidence.

DIFFICULTY ORGANIZING PERSONAL AFFAIRS

Older adults with cognitive decline often have progressively more trouble managing finances, appointments, medications, social arrangements, and household chores. These tasks take a high level of executive function skills in the areas of planning, organizing, and sequencing.

Instruction in the use of compensatory techniques may be beneficial to your patients so that they can plan and follow through with complex tasks to maintain the highest level of independence.

DIFFICULTY COMMUNICATING THOUGHTS

Difficulty communicating could be due to the thought processes or the motor processes underlying certain conditions (i.e., cognitive decline, Parkinson’s disease, stroke). Patients may have trouble thinking of the words they want to say, communicate in a disorganized manner, slur their words, or say the wrong words. All or any of these can cause major frustration for an individual speaker as well as the person they are talking to.

Treatment in word finding and/or overall speech production can dramatically improve your patient’s quality of life. Being able to communicate is a necessity for obvious reasons.

CHANGES IN VOICE

Changes in vocal loudness, smoothness, pitch, or rhythm can indicate dysfunction in the muscles utilized for respiration, phonation, and resonance. Each and every one of us needs appropriate breath support for speech production. This allows us to change our loudness and affects the movement of the vocal folds for sound production. The sound of our voice is a representation of the structure and function of our vocal folds. Any changes in the muscle function or structures of voice production can be heard. Underlying issues of stress, disease, or even surgical procedures can cause differences in your patient’s voice. Assessment and treatment of voice production is a key component of improving communication in our patients. When the sound of our voice is different, we feel different. Speech-language pathology can help your patients feel like themselves again.

UNINTENTIONAL WEIGHT LOSS

When your patient reports weight loss that is unplanned or unexplained, this may indicate difficulty chewing or swallowing. Some patients may even state difficulty chewing certain foods or report coughing a lot. Coughing while drinking or eating is a sign of muscle weakness or discoordination. Speech-language pathology helps prevent the occurrence of pneumonia by creating an exercise regimen and/or teaching strategies to improve safe drinking and eating.

Ultimately, speech-language pathology can help your patients remember what they want to remember, say what they want to say, and eat what they want to eat. These are seemingly small things that make a huge difference in patients’ lives. Choose speech-language pathology to enhance rehabilitation outcomes by improving safety, participation, communication, and nutrition.