If you’re experiencing speech, language or cognitive deficits, your primary care physician may refer you to a speech and language pathologist for evaluation. At Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, speech and language specialists are skilled in assessing, diagnosing and treating adults and children with a variety of communication problems.
On your first visit, your speech therapist evaluates your problem, reviews your medical history and conducts specific tests to assess your current capabilities. Your therapist then creates an individualized treatment plan with specific goals. Depending on your needs, treatment may begin right away or at your next appointment. Common treatments range from physical strengthening exercises, instructive or repetitive practice and vocal drills, to the use of audio-visual aids. Across the Sutter Health network, we offer breathing therapy, swallowing therapy, voice retraining and cognitive reorganization therapy.
Our speech therapy services include:
- Aphasia/language evaluation and treatment — Addresses communication challenges after neurological trauma, such as stroke, brain injury or brain surgery. Includes word finding, auditory comprehension, reading comprehension and total communication techniques for use in home, work and community.
- Speech intelligibility — Includes oral/motor training, melodic intonation therapy and self-monitoring skills addressing dysarthria and apraxia of speech.
- Voice evaluation and treatment — Treating pitch, volume, resonance, breath support and vocal quality issues.
- Swallowing evaluation and treatment — Including Modified Barium Swallow, FEES and Vital Stim.
- Cognitive linguistic treatment — For executive function, verbal thought organization and problem solving, information processing, attention/recall deficits and sequencing of verbal expression.
- Dysfluency — Addresses stuttering and cluttering speech disorders.
