A stroke, also known as a cerebrovascular accident or transient ischemic attack, is a serious medical problem that causes blockage in the blood supply to the brain. This happens when a brain vessel ruptures or bleeds.
It impedes a person from leading a normal life due to its huge impact on a person’s cognitive and physical abilities. The after-effects of a stroke leave behind a lot of disabilities that demand immediate and effective medical help. It creates a huge impact on their day-to-day activities which extends to a person’s ability to speak. The intensity of speech disorders depends on the severity of the brain damage and the area of the brain that was affected.
Now, this brings us to the importance of speech therapy treatment.
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Speech Therapy for Stroke Survivors
Communication is the essence of human connection, and speech is a major aspect of communication. When a person is attacked with a stroke, it has life-changing effects on the person’s mind and body. And when you physically suffer it takes a toll on one’s mind too. A stroke has weighty consequences on a patient. Imagine leading a normal life and suddenly a medical disorder changes everything, starting from your ability to walk to your ability to think and speak.
Stroke survivors experience a litany of challenges in their day-to-day functioning, including dysphagia, dysarthria, and aphasia. An ischemic stroke is the most common form of stroke in which the blood supply to a portion of the brain is considerably diminished or interrupted and the brain cells begin to die within minutes. Due to this, brain tissue is deprived of the oxygen and nutrition it requires, and this results in major physical issues like speech impediments.
Speech therapy treatment can assist those who find it difficult to communicate through speech, it rids you of all obstacles brought on by a stroke. Speech therapists aim to strengthen the muscles used in speech, improve pronunciation, and teach patients how to speak properly.
Speech therapy is a part of the rehabilitation program for stroke survivors. They are a critical part of the rehabilitation team. They evaluate, identify, and address problems with language, speech, voice, cognition, communication, etc. Speech therapists strive to improve patients’ language and communication skills to the maximum.
Dysarthria, Dyspraxia, and Aphasia
Owing to the stroke brain damage leads to unclear speech. This condition is called dysarthria, it results in tongue, throat, and facial muscles becoming sluggish, uncoordinated, and weak. Although it doesn’t impede the patient’s capacity for thought, memory, or word retrieval, it makes them less confident while speaking. Even though others may think the symptoms are minor, this illness can make the patient lose confidence and feel socially isolated.
Dyspraxia impairs muscle coordination and movement. A person with dyspraxia may have completely functional voice-producing muscles, but they may not be able to move those muscles in the right order or sequence to generate the sounds needed for consistently coherent speech. In this way dyspraxia makes it challenging to pronounce words correctly.
Another significant problem that stroke patients face is Aphasia. It is a language impediment. It has an impact on reading and writing skills as well as speech production or comprehension. The severity of Aphasia can range from moderate to severe. Depending on the degree and range of disorders, aphasia is further divided into many categories. The various varieties of aphasia that might impact a patient include global aphasia, mixed transcortical aphasia, Broca’s aphasia, transcortical motor aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia, conduction aphasia, and anomic aphasia.
For stroke survivors suffering from dysphagia and/or aphasia, speech therapists are crucial in the screening, formal assessment, management, and rehabilitation processes. With a series of effective speech therapy methods, speech therapists aim to bring you back to your normal daily life regaining your ability to communicate.
Here’s what the treatment helps in recouping your speech: Â
- Activities aimed at enhancing cognitive communication include problem-solving, memory practice, organizing, and more.
- Verbal strategies to enhance social interaction
- Breathing exercises to improve resonance
- Oral muscle-strengthening exercises
- Exercises in perception, such as recognizing distinct sounds and words
- Exercises that increase speech fluency and produce specific sounds
- Exercises to enhance voice, swallowing, and breathing
- Using tools like sign language, message boards, and computer-assisted speech, you can improve communication.
- Support for putting these strategies into practice on a daily basis
Speech Therapy: The Importance
It is a frustrating experience how a stroke hinders your ability to communicate.  Although, it does not affect a person’s intelligence, the way it appears people might think that it does. Speech therapy can reduce the effects of stroke-related aphasia, making everyday tasks like reading, writing, and participating in conversations easier which is why speech therapy is important.
Speech-language pathologists evaluate, diagnose, and treat speech, voice, language, cognitive-communication, swallowing capacity, and other related disorders during speech therapy. They tailor a customized treatment plan for each patient in collaboration with the patient and their rehabilitation team. This approach aims to assist the patient in achieving the maximum degree of language and communication function possible.
The brain’s innate capacity to reorganize itself is known as neuroplasticity, and the job of a speech therapist revolves around that.t  The healthy parts of the brain are stimulated to take over language processing by triggering neuroplasticity. Since neuroplasticity is spurred by repetitive stimulation working through numerous speech therapy activities customized by your speech therapist will promote new areas of the brain to take on the responsibilities of speech and communication
If necessary, a speech-language pathologist can also do diagnostic tests and offer medical speech pathology services to assess the strength of the vocal cords, swallowing muscles, and functional voice. A speech-language pathologist can give the patient the most beneficial speech therapy treatment by being more aware of any functional deficiencies within the patient.
What are the exercises involved in speech therapy treatment?
Let’s have a look at the types of exercises you can expect during your speech rehabilitation:
- Tongue exercises
- Smiling
- Puckering of the lips
- Reading
- Word Games
- Breathing exercises
- Speech sound practices
- Practicing sentences
MRC-Â Building a Better Tomorrow for Your Through Rehabilitation
A stroke can affect many bodily processes like speech, posture, cognition, memory, and vision. It hinders their daily functioning and can lead to physical and mental suffering. By now you know that being a stroke survivor, to regain health and be dependent and in charge of their own life it is very important to seek medical help.
If you are suffering from any such illness or you know someone who is make sure to seek medical attention before it’s too late.
If you’re looking for a good rehabilitation center that provides the best Speech Therapy in Kolkata, Medical Rehabilitation Center should be your best bet. Drawing on its 22 years of experience treating physical diseases and disabilities, they aim to restore your strength and independence with the utmost care, comfort, and a treatment program specially tailored for you.
