The 5 main functions of speech therapists

These are the most common functions of speech therapists when offering their services in therapy.

Many people suffering from speech disorders have experienced a great improvement thanks to the work of a speech therapist. However, not everyone is clear from the outset what these professionals do.

Let's find out what the functions of speech therapists are.The main issues that they face in their day to day, what are the anomalies that they can solve and what are the benefits that a person can get by performing one of these therapies.

Characteristics of speech therapy or language therapy

In order to know the main functions of the speech therapists the first thing that we must have clear is what this profession consists of. A speech therapist is a professional in everything related to speech and communication, as well as hearing but also associated behaviors in which the oral area is involved, such as the act of swallowing, chewing or simply breathing, since due to some alteration may be related to the pathology in question.

The problems treated by speech therapists are very diverse in nature. Some arise as a consequence of a problematic birth, others are associated with syndromes, either genetic, such as Down syndrome and some orphan-like diseases, or developmental, such as Asperger's or autism. In other cases, the pathology comes from other casuistry and simply the child (or adult) develops certain difficulties to use the language, in its oral or written form.

But problems involving difficulties in the use of logical and mathematical reasoning are also considered in speech therapy.. Of course, speech difficulties also occur in adulthood, with degenerative diseases such as sclerosis, Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, among others. Likewise, lesions in certain areas of the brain, whether due to trauma or other causes, may also lead to communication disorders.

What are the main functions of speech therapists?

Once we have learned what this profession consists of, we can now focus on the main functions of speech therapists, in order to go deeper and discover in detail the main tasks to which they pay attention during their therapeutic processes.

1. Intervention in stuttering problems

Probably the first communication disorder that comes to everyone's mind when we think of speech therapy. Stuttering consists of a constant interruption in speech, which the subject makes involuntarily, causing the constant repetition of different syllables. This symptom is accompanied by muscular tension in the entire maxillofacial area, and also by an important psychological component consisting mainly of anxiety and fear of speaking.

One of the main functions of the speech therapists would be, therefore, the treatment of stuttering, which generally requires a long process performing a series of exercises constantly, but where the family and people around the child have a very important weight, since it is essential to give him the necessary confidence and all the time he needs, without correcting him, to express himself and can gradually improve.

2. Training in modulation and pronunciation

It is also very common for speech therapists to encounter cases of people who have problems with problems to modulate their voice correctly or to pronounce some specific phonemes, a very frequent one being that of thea very frequent one being that of /rr/. As in the case of stuttering, difficulties in pronunciation cause the person who suffers them to also experience the stress that the situation causes, so the psychological damage they are suffering should not be overlooked.

Applying corrective treatments to achieve a partial or total improvement when pronouncing certain sounds or learning to modulate the voice correctly, would be other of the main functions of speech therapists. For this purpose, they have a series of techniques that they adapt to the subject, and that with a lot of perseverance help them to find the improvement they are looking for to forget about their pronunciation problems.

3. Therapy to overcome voice problems

It is possible that the difficulties also come from the voice itself in the form of problems to emit sounds, either by alterations in the physical structures necessary to emit this action, such as the larynx or the vocal cords, or by other problems that may be psychological. In any case, another of the main functions of the speech therapists is to to collaborate with these people to gradually, and as far as possible, reach a better speech capacity..

Logically, in cases where there is a physical impairment or alteration, improvements could only be partial, as far as the state of the different organic components of the subject affected by this pathology allows. In any case, the speech therapist, thanks to his knowledge and experience, will accompany you in the process and will help you as much as possible in the search for this learning.

4. Training in comprehension tasks

But not all communication problems are due to mechanical factors, or voice. Difficulties can also be found in the understanding of the language itself.. We would be talking, for example, of aphasias (language disorders) of sensory type, such as Wenicke's aphasia, which is generated by damage in that area of the brain. This type of pathology generates problems in comprehension but sometimes also in language fluency.

It will be, therefore, one of the main functions of speech therapists to provide their services to these patients, although, since we are talking about brain injuries, the treatment can be very slow and the improvements limited. treatment can be very slow and improvements limited, so it is necessary to combine it with other techniques in order to achieve the greatest possible effect.Therefore, it is necessary to combine it with other types of techniques in order to achieve the greatest possible effect by combining therapies.

5. Therapy for swallowing difficulties

An example of a speech-related problem that directly affects the development of this behavior would be swallowing difficulties. This pathology whose origin can be in physical or psychological problems, would generate problems when emitting speech, so its treatment is also one of the main functions of speech therapists. This disorder is known as dysphagia and has repercussions on the patient's quality of life.It is therefore important to treat it as soon as possible.

Dysphagia can occur for many different reasons, and can also be classified into different types depending on the part of the digestive tract where the difficulties are found. Therefore, depending on the specific type of dysphagia, the treatment to apply will be one or another, being the speech therapist the expert who will decide the strategy to follow to achieve an improvement in this aspect.

Phases of the treatment

Although we have seen a very varied casuistry regarding the main functions of speech therapists, we will now see what a typical treatment process would be like by analyzing each of its phases.

1. Evaluation

As in so many other disciplines, the first thing the speech therapist has to do when a patient arrives at his office is the pertinent evaluation, analyzing the problem from its origin, collecting all the data from both the patient's history and possible medical history.The speech and related functions (swallowing, chewing, breathing, jaw articulation, and others) will be examined.

An evaluation of the language, both spoken and written, and its comprehension, will also be carried out in order to delimit the problem and to be able to apply an accurate and effective treatment. With all this information duly collected and analyzed, we will arrive at another of the main functions of speech therapists, which is the issuance of the diagnosis related to speech dysfunctions.

2. Treatment

Already with a clear diagnosis, the next step is to to establish objectives and to choose the most appropriate treatment to be applied in the sessions that are necessary to achieve the proposed improvement. to achieve the proposed improvement. The number of techniques that can be chosen for the treatment are many, and will depend on many factors: the diagnosed ailment, the patient's characteristics, the established objectives and the speech therapist's own experience.

Obviously, depending on the type of treatment applied, the procedure will have a longer or shorter duration. As in so many other disciplines, each case is unique, so it is not possible to establish rigid deadlines, since some people experience an improvement with the first few sessions, while others need several more rounds of treatment to achieve the positive effects they are looking for.

3. High

We were talking about the main functions of speech therapists, and these can be summarized as follows overcoming the pathologies of people affected by speech disorders..

This involves evaluating them, applying the appropriate treatment, and finally, in this third phase, discharging them. One type of discharge is an outpatient discharge, to inform the patient's physicians and family members of the patient's condition, and to give them guidelines for continuing treatment.

The other type of discharge would be the definitive oneThe other type of discharge would be the definitive one, that in which the speech therapist has achieved the success he was looking for and therefore the ailment that brought the person to the consultation, has subsided, or the objectives that had been proposed in the previous phase have been achieved and therefore the treatment is terminated.

Bibliographical references:

• Buitrado, A., Morand, D.S. (2018). Proposal of an Executive Functions Assessment Protocol for Speech Therapists. Psychologia Latina.
• Enireb-García, M.D., Jachero-Ochoa, F.J., Patiño, V.P. (2017). Speech therapy, processes and functions of human language and communication. Polo del Conocimiento.
• Functions of the speech therapist in a special education center.
• Fitor, P., Puyuelo, M., Vicuña, E. (1979). Functions of the speech-language pathologist in a special education center. Childhood and Learning. Taylor & Francis.
• Puyuelo, M., Arias, C., Artal, M., Bonet, M., Fernández, A. (2017). Clinical cases in speech therapy. Masson.