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Speech-Language Pathology

417.347.6635

Helping you with speech and swallowing difficulties

Freeman Rehabilitation Services offers both adult speech therapy and pediatric speech pathology. In addition to providing comprehensive speech therapy in multiple locations in the community, our speech therapists also offer swallow studies and treatment for patients dealing with swallowing difficulties.

Speech therapy serves individuals with cognitive communication disabilities as well as postneurological conditions. Patients may be referred to a speech therapist as a result of traumatic brain injury, stroke, dementia, a progressive neurological condition such as Parkinson’s disease, a learning disability, autism or any other condition that adversely affects speech, language or cognitive development.

Speech-Language Pathology Frequently Asked Questions

    Speech therapy is designed to aid in speech/language deficits and swallowing disorders. Initially the therapist will address establishing a reliable yes/no response. Reading, writing, speech, word generation, and all other forms of language will be addressed through a variety of tasks.

    Many times speech therapy is required to help individuals who experience difficulty communicating and/or swallowing due to stroke, head injury, or other medical conditions. Therapy for communication is needed to assist in relaying needs/wants to the medical staff and/or family. A swallow evaluation may be necessary to assess what diet textures are best for safe and efficient swallowing to ensure that all food enters only the stomach.

    A licensed speech/language pathologist will perform all speech/language and swallowing evaluations and treatments. A pathologist will see you at least once daily while you are in the hospital.

    The speech pathologist will thoroughly examine your tongue and mouth including a probe for a gag. After an oral exam, you will be given a variety of textures of food and liquid to determine the least restrictive texture that you can safely chew and swallow.

    If you have trouble swallowing or cough significantly after eating or drinking, the speech pathologist will recommend a Modified Barium Swallow (MBS) video to further assess your swallow.

    An MBS video, an x-ray conducted in cooperation with radiology, enables the speech pathologist to view your swallowing. This video is taken in your room with you in bed and takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes. A small amount of barium will be put in various food and liquid textures for you to swallow. This test can further assess your swallowing.

    417.347.3737

    Freeman Rehabilitation & Sports Center

    Joplin, MO

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