Speech and Language Therapy
To support young adults with communication and swallowing difficulties following acquired brain injury, to maximise their independence and quality of life by ensuring that they receive a specialist, efficient and efficacious SLT intervention based on current best practice.
We support clients who have one or several of the following difficulties following their acquired brain injury:
Communication
Clients may have difficulty:
- Saying, understanding, reading or writing single words and sentences
- Making speech clear either because of muscle weakness or co-ordination of the muscles
- Participating in conversation either because they cannot think what to say or cannot interpret what the other person is saying
- Communicating appropriately in a social setting due to problems reading or using social cues such as body language, facial expression and gesture
- Completing complex language activities because of the impact of impaired cognitive skills on language production, such as sequencing, problem solving and memory
Swallowing
Clients may have difficulty:
- Managing saliva
- Swallowing food or drink due to weakness or poor co-ordination of the muscles in the mouth and throat or poor body posture
- Preventing food entering the lungs
Speech and Language Therapy Provision will include:
- Direct therapy in a one to one or group setting to improve impairments and/or develop strategies to enhance the clients’ communication and swallowing skills
- Observing clients’ communication skills in the community and providing therapy where necessary
- Developing use of alternative and augmentative communication aids, where necessary
- Ensuring detailed assessment is completed by referring clients to consultants, i.e. ENT consultant or video fluoroscopy clinic
- Liaison with Community Services regarding future Speech and Language Therapy provision
