| Patient
Services
Speech pathology
services at Bastian Voice Institute
Speech pathology services are provided by a clinician
with a master’s degree in speech and language pathology.
She also is a candidate for an internship year under the supervision
of other speech pathologists, leading to a Certificate of
Clinical Competence in Speech/Language Pathology (CCC-SLP).
As a profession, speech pathology may deal with diverse issues:
language acquisition in children; language and speech problems
in persons who have suffered a stroke or other brain injury;
or swallowing problems and voice disorders. At Bastian Voice
Institute, however, our speech pathologist deals almost exclusively
with voice disorders, a significant proportion of which occur
in singers and other performers.
Adjunct speech pathologists at Advocate
Good Samaritan Hospital provide swallowing evaluation assistance,
rehabilitation of laryngecomees via tracheoesophageal puncture
voice, and therapy to our inpatient and outpatient populations.
Behavioral (speech therapy) treatment of
voice disorders on site at BVI may be either primary –
directed at resolving or ameliorating the disorder as a single
treatment modality – or it may be supportive to medical/surgical
treatment modalities. The speech therapy regimen for a voice
disorder is individualized for each patient. However, there
are some common purposes that can be reviewed here:
- The speech pathologist will make
certain that the patient understands a diagnosis and explanation
given by the laryngologist and will help deepen understanding
of that diagnosis for the patient.
- The speech pathologist’s evaluation
can be a part of the diagnostic process in those occasional
circumstances where the integrative diagnostic model described
elsewhere on this site BVI’S
diagnostic method/model for voice disorders
fails to lead to a clear diagnosis. In this case, the speech
pathologist’s additional functional evaluations and
trial therapy can help to sort out competing diagnoses.
- Partly for subsequent use in therapy,
she may make measures of acoustic or aerodynamic outputs
of voice, not for diagnosis, but to document the disorder.
- The speech pathologist analyzes personality
and life circumstances, including occupational, family,
social, and performance demands on the voice in order to
help an individual build a “voice-healthy” lifestyle.
- The speech pathologist can reiterate
and expand upon issues of general voice care, often termed
“voice hygiene.”
- The speech pathologist assesses the
manner of voice use, looking for ways to improve vocal quality
and capability and/or to reduce undue strain and wear and
tear in order to facilitate healing of an injury.
- She may set up a voice exercise
regimen for neurologically or structurally impaired voices
or those with injuries.
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