Most people are into a misconception that speech-language pathology is a medical aspect where professionals help people suffering from a lisp or stutter. While it is true that this pathology really helps with those issues, its scope of practice is much wider. Such pathologists are highly trained and educated professionals with at least a master’s degree in the field. Quite like other healthcare oriented professionals, these pathologists are required to study physiology and anatomy, but they also study genetics, neuroanatomy, language development in human, psychology, linguistics, acoustics and other allied subjects too. That is why they are qualified to assess and evaluate and treat a wide range of delays as well as disorders.
Speech problems that can be treated with pathology
Speech pathology is not simply confined to helping people with speech troubles. It has a host of other benefits in treating afflictions like-
- Speech problems like articulation, phonology and motor speech disorders.
- Language delays, including expression as well as comprehension in oral or non-verbal contexts and all other language disorders.
Fluency disorders like stuttering. - Swallowing and feeding troubles in infants, children, and even adults.
- Cognitive-communicative problems such as social communication skills, problem-solving, reasoning and executive functions.
- Pre-literacy and literacy skills such as decoding, phonological awareness, writing and reading comprehension.
- Communication and swallowing problems that is associated with other problems. For instance, hearing impairments, dementia, traumatic brain injury, developmental, genetic or intellectual disorders and neurological impairments.
Methods of evaluating speech and language disorders
For many parents, the determination of whether or not their kids are required to be enrolled for speech pathology or privately practiced therapy is quite challenging. Since school-based speech treatment is run under state funds and guidelines, the process of qualifying and assessing is very much strict. To qualify for in-school speech therapy, students are required to meet the state criteria on language testing and speech standards. Owing to such stringent requirements, some students with little to moderate speech problems may not be evaluated and treated in an efficient time span or their individual requirements may be undermined by the authorial criteria.
Also, such problems can be found among infants or very small children due to complications at birth or cranial nerve damage or craniofacial anomalies or developmental verbal dyspraxia or cleft palate, which can be assessed even before the child reaches the school. Therefore, private clinics are of a great respite as they help small children suffering from physical disabilities, stammering, stroke, shuttering, dysphonia, pragmatics, laryngectomies, tracheostomies and even adults come to terms with their speech oriented problems. Start treating them early and these problems can be dealt with in an effective way.
