Speech Therapist San Francisco County

SPEECH THERAPY – The Ultimate Therapy for Speech Impairment

HealthNow Home Healthcare provides in-home speech therapy across San Francisco County. Communication is vitally important to remain independent. Communication centers around speech delivery. Speech therapy bridges speech limitations and problems. Speech therapy, which is also referred to as speech-language pathology, is a medium of drastically reducing all speech related problems.

HealthNow Home Healthcare speech therapists help patients achieve speech fluency. Their assistance helps patients with speech impairments to achieve speech fluidity (free-flowing speech). Speech impairment can be the result of delayed speech or the result of various health conditions that affect developmental interactions.

Speech therapy goes beyond helping to achieve speech fluidity, wording or language. It also helps with issues related to breathing and swallowing. Most children with breathing or swallowing difficulties such as mouth lumps and esophageal lumps usually have problems with normal and consistent speech delivery. A common condition is a situation whereby an individual is capable of constructing meaningful words but mumbles and stutters when speaking.

Whatever the cause of an individual’s speech problems, speech therapy can help maintain and manage these cases effectively. Whether a birth defect, developmental delay, brain or head injury or trauma effect, therapy allows patients to establish fluency and consistency with speech over time. A patient with tongue related problems may find it hard to articulate words fluently. Intonation may be difficult. Also volume control, high or low pitch, grammatical issues and syntax may be difficult to achieve. All of these issues lead to confused and incomprehensible conversations.

Speech therapy targets the cause or type of difficulty a patient is facing. Productive speech therapy identifies a pattern for treatment. For a patient that has issues pronouncing certain sounds, therapy might focus on underlying causes. HealthNow Home Healthcare therapists put patients through several tests to diagnose and identify specific deficiencies. Dietary and neurological factors can also be a cause of speech impairment and can be identified through diagnostic tests.

Once the cause of the problem is identified, the therapist proceeds with treatments that target the cause of the defect. Patients who need language therapy are placed in language drills. Grammar and vocabulary exercises are used to solve problems with syntax and sentence construction. Those with articulation problems are made to practice movements around the buccal region. The exercise targets the teeth, tongue, jaw, lips, and palate. This helps with communication and pronunciation.

Another cause of irregular or incomprehensible communication is the lack of volume control pitch, speed, and tone. Oral therapy is also provided to strengthen the muscles around the oral cavity to help with voicing intended words correctly.

Speech impairment shouldn’t be left unresolved. Contact HealthNow Home Healthcare to learn more about our speech therapy programs to build successful and effective communication today.