Speech therapy for seniors is dedicated to assessing and treating communication, language, and speech problems. It helps develop voice, fluency, clarity, comprehension, and sound production skills. While most people associate speech therapy with kids, it can also help with speech impairment in older people caused by stroke, injuries, dementia, and other conditions.
Age can cause weakened muscles, causing difficulty in chewing and swallowing. It also increases the chances of choking. Speech therapy helps strengthen the larynx, vocal cords, and jaw muscles. This makes it easier to chew and swallow and improves the swallowing reflex, reducing the choking chances. Older adults, especially those with dementia, also suffer from dysarthria. It causes weakness in the muscles used for speech, making it hard to control. This results in slow and slurred speech, monotone speech, nasal or strained voice, rapid speech that is hard to understand, etc.
Just like it helps strengthen the chewing and swallowing muscles, speech therapy helps strengthen the speech muscles. Besides weak muscles, many dementia patients suffer from articulation and fluency problems, which is the main reason people hire speech therapists. Articulation makes them mispronounce things, while fluency issues include stuttering and cluttering. For articulation, speech therapists help the patients with breathing techniques plus lip and tongue movements. To help with fluency, speech therapists intentionally slow down the patient’s speech rate, giving them more time to form and pronounce the words correctly.
Even if dementia patients have fluent speech, they might suffer from memory loss and other cognitive disorders. Speech therapy helps preserve brain functions linked to communication and language. It also helps deal with issues like problem-solving, following instructions, and attention. Speech therapists help boost memory by giving exercises like puzzles and word games. The therapists also teach loved ones how to improve communication and understanding with the patient.
Read more about the benefits of Speech Therapy, here.
Conclusion
Dementia and old age weaken a person’s muscles, making it hard to chew, swallow, and talk properly. They also affect cognitive abilities, making it hard for patients to remember things and follow instructions. Speech therapy helps strengthen the muscles in the mouth, making it easier to eat, swallow, and talk. Speech therapists come up with different techniques depending on what the patient is suffering from and the intensity of the issue.
Be Active Be Well provides Speech Therapy services.
