Speech Therapy

Neurological diseases, strokes, accidents and certain cancers may result in problems with communication, eating or drinking. These problems may make daily tasks extremely difficult and frustrating. The caring, highly-skilled speech pathologists at Grand View Health will work with you to reach your full potential and maximize your quality of life.

Speech Pathologists at Grand View Health

Part of Grand View’s Physical Therapy, speech pathologists (also called speech-language pathologists or speech therapists) evaluate, diagnose, treat and help prevent communication and swallowing disorders. Speech pathologists help you improve, change or recover communication and swallowing function so you can live your life to the fullest and resume your social and vocational roles. All of Grand View’s speech pathologists are fully licensed and certified with many years of clinical experience.

Who Benefits from Speech Pathology Services

People who benefit the most from speech pathology evaluation and treatment include those with the following disorders:

  • Aphasia – difficulty producing or understanding speech
  • Apraxia – difficulty in planning or processing speech
  • Dysarthria – hoarseness or slurred speech
  • Voice disorders
  • Cognitive-communication disorders
  • Dysphagia – impaired ability to swallow

Specialized services include:

LSVT LOUD® Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease

If you live with Parkinson’s disease, you may experience changes in the way you talk. Your voice may get hoarse. Your volume may grow softer. Your speech may be slurred, or you may stammer or stutter.

At Grand View Health, our Physical Therapy Department helps people with Parkinson’s manage their speech challenges. We use the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) LOUD® therapy, an evidence-based approach.

Named for a woman living with Parkinson’s, LSVT LOUD helps train people with Parkinson’s to use their voice at a louder level when speaking with friends, co-workers or community members. This helps you recognize how loud or soft you may sound to other people and teaches you how to feel comfortable using a stronger voice.

The therapy takes place over a series of 17 visits, an evaluation, and 16 treatment sessions with a therapist four times per week for four weeks. At each step, a Grand View Health speech therapist will help your voice grow stronger. Sessions are held on an outpatient basis at Grand View Hospital.

Additional speech therapy services include:

  • Video fluoroscopic swallowing examinations
  • Rehabilitation of head and neck cancers
  • Evaluation and treatment of communication and swallowing disorders, such as impaired speech after a stroke or difficulty eating or swallowing foods and liquids
  • Cognitive rehabilitation