Although it may seem like a profession known and popular by all, very few people know for sure what a speech therapist does. Thanks to the work of this professional, a person who has serious difficulties when speaking can leave their language problems behind.
In the next article we are going to talk to you about the different functions that a speech therapist will perform.
Main features of speech therapy
Before knowing the most important functions of a speech therapist, it is necessary to know in a clear way what this profession consists of. A speech therapist is a person who deals with everything that refers to language and hearing. In addition to this, he also has the ability to treat various behaviors that have to do with the oral part of the person, such as swallowing or breathing.
The problems treated by the speech therapist can have various causes. In some cases, the problem is due to a poor development of the child in terms of language and learning, to syndromes or diseases suffered by the child or to genetic reasons.
Main functions of a speech therapist
When talking about the most important functions of a speech therapist, we must refer to the following:
- They are in charge of treating stuttering problems. The person who suffers from stuttering has serious difficulties when speaking correctly in addition to suffering from serious psychological problems such as fear when speaking. The speech therapist is in charge of trying to solve this stuttering through a series of exercises that require patience and a lot of time. Apart from the work of the speech therapist, the work of people close to the child or adult who suffers from said stuttering is key and essential. The patient must have enough confidence to improve little by little.
- Another of the most important functions of a speech therapist is to help certain people pronounce certain phonemes correctly. In the same way that occurs in the case of stuttering, these people suffer from quite significant psychological damage, such as stress or anxiety. The patient's perseverance is key and essential when it comes to improving their pronunciation and voice modulation.
- A person in question may have a series of voice problems that make it difficult for them to speak. It is therefore the job of the speech therapist to help that person improve their speaking ability and be understood. If the voice problem is physical, the help of the speech therapist would be partial and never total. If, on the other hand, the inability to speak correctly is due to psychological aspects, the speech therapist could get the person to speak in a correct way.
- It may also happen that the person in question, have certain difficulties in relation to understanding language and have serious problems with speech. These are cases in which certain lesions in the brain area give rise to a lack of fluency in language. The function of the speech therapist is none other than to help the person to achieve a greater understanding of the language. When dealing with brain damage, the treatment to be followed is slow and requires a lot of patience on the part of the patient. In these cases, it is advisable to combine the activity of the speech therapist with other types of therapies and thus achieve better results.
- Many people are completely unaware of it, but another of the main functions of a speech therapist is to help a person swallow properly. The difficulties that a person may have when swallowing can cause serious problems with speech. This type of disorder or pathology is called dysphagia and usually has a negative impact on the person's daily life. That is why it is important to treat this problem as quickly as possible. The treatment to be followed by the speech therapist will vary according to the type of dysphagia that the patient may suffer.