An Introduction to

Speech Therapy
Meg Redway
Speech Language Therapist
But first.
A quick introduction to Meg.

The basics
My name is Meg Redway
I am 31 years old
I do not have any brothers or sisters
I graduated with a Bachelor of Speech Pathology
(Honours) from Flinders University in 2007

My Boyfriend
My boyfriend is called Peter Duncan and he is an
audiologist at Darwin Hospital.
I live in Darwin, Northern Territory.
But I grew up in Hobart, Tasmania.
My Family
Work
I have worked as a Speech Pathologist for 7 years in
England and Australia.
I have worked in hospitals, nursing homes, private
homes and private clinics with children and adults.

What do you know
about Speech Therapy?
What do you want to
know about Speech
Therapy?
What type of clients do
you work with?
How do you assess the
needs of your clients?
What activities do you
do with your clients?
What type of
recommendations do
you make for your
clients?
How do you monitor
client progress?
Aims
To give a basic overview of:
Role of a speech therapist
What communication involves
What swallowing involves
What causes difficulties with communication and
swallowing
The process of assessment and management
Please ask me if you do
not understand!
What is Speech Therapy?
This job has many different names but they all mean
the same thing!
Speech Therapist
Speech Pathologist
Speech and Language Therapist and;
Speech Language Pathologist.
Where do we work?
Speech therapists work in:
Hospitals
Nursing homes
Schools
Kindergartens
Community clinics
Private homes
NGOs
Speech therapists work together with:
Doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists,
dietitians, social workers, psychologists, teachers, therapy
assistants and families.

Examples of clients
A 5 year old boy who has cannot say the speech sounds k, g
and sh.
A 3 year old girl with autism who has difficulties pointing and
making eye contact and uses pictures to communicate.
A 15 year old boy with a stutter.
An elderly woman who had a stroke and now has word finding
difficulties.
A man with mouth cancer who needs to be fed through a tube in
his stomach.
A young man who had a car accident and now has trouble staying
on topic, taking turns in conversation, understanding jokes and
remembering what people say.
What does a Speech
Therapist do?
Speech therapists work with adults and children who
have difficulties with:
Speech
Language
Voice
Fluency
Pragmatics
Swallowing & Feeding
Speech
Physical production of individual sounds
(e.g. how to make an s sound)
Physical production of sound patterns
(E.g. how to make an s in the beginning, middle and end of a
word)
Very different from the meaning of the sounds and words.
Requires:
Planning
Coordination
Control of speech muscles and structures
Language
Symbols that we use to give information.
Language includes:
What words mean
How to put words together
How to make new words (quick, quickly, quickest, etc.)
Language can be verbal (speaking) and non-verbal
(pictures, signs, facial expressions).
Language is divided into:
Receptive language
Expressive language

Language in the brain
Receptive Language
Understanding the meaning of spoken and written
words and sentences.
Comprehension of information based on what we see
and hear.
Expressive Language
What we say, sign and write.
Output of language.
How we express thoughts, feelings and information.
Voice
Using the vocal cords and breath to produce sound

Vocal Cords
Fluency
The rhythm of speech.
Trouble with fluency is called stuttering or stammering.
Stuttering is the repetition of words and sounds.
Pragmatics
Influences how our message is perceived.
Depends on our culture.
Area of difficulty for people with autism, head injury and
strokes in the right side of the brain.
Pragmatics is about how we use language for:
Greetings
Giving information
Demanding
Promising
Requesting
Pragmatics
Changing language to make it appropriate for different situations:
Classroom vs playground
Adult vs baby
Mayor vs son or daughter
Following the rules of conversation:
Taking turns
Introducing information
Staying on topic
Repairing breakdowns in conversation
Using verbal and non verbal signals
How to use facial expressions and eye contact
How close to stand next to someone when speaking
Swallowing
How we eat and drink.
Swallowing includes:
Putting food and drink in the mouth
Keeping food and drink in your mouth
Chewing
Moving food and drink around the
mouth
Clearing food and drink from the
mouth and throat
Safely moving food and drink past the
airway and down to the stomach
Swallowing
Swallowing and speech use the same muscles and
structures:
Lips
Tongue
Jaw
Cheeks
Palate
Voice box (larynx)
Vocal cords
Food pipe (Oesophagus)
People with difficulties swallowing can become very sick if
food, drink, saliva or medicine goes into their lungs.
People with difficulties swallowing can become
malnourished and dehydrated.
Swallowing
What can cause problems?
Swallowing and communication difficulties can be caused by:
Stroke
Head injuries
Head and neck cancer
Lung cancer
Burns
Breathing problems (e.g. COPD)
Degenerative neurological conditions
Parkinsons Disease
Multiple Sclerosis
Motor Neuron Disease
Huntingtons Disease
Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease

What can cause problems?
Swallowing and communication difficulties can also be
caused by:
Cleft lip and palate
Cerebral Palsy
Downs Syndrome
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Meningitis
Hearing Impairment
Vision Impairment
Intellectual impairment
Medications
Gastrointestinal issues (e.g. reflux)
Psychological and mental health issues
What can cause problems?
Sometimes we do not know the cause of swallowing or
communication difficulties.
People are often at more risk of communication
difficulties if there are other people in their family with
communication difficulties.

Assessment
Background information:
Medical
Development
Social
Discussion with clients, family,
teachers, doctors or nurses.
Formal assessment using
standardized tests.
Informal assessment:
Observation
Conversation
Play
Meal time

Management & Therapy
Advice on how to communicate with the client.
Advice on how to support the client to
communicate.
Finding different ways to communicate
Signs
Pictures
Computers
Direct therapy.
Group therapy.
Advice on what type of food and drink (if any) is
safest for the client.
Advice on how to feed the client safely.
Questions?
Next time?


What do you want to know
more about?