Speech Therapy

What is Speech Therapy?

Speech-language pathologists specialize in communication and swallowing disorders. What is communication? Communication can be defined as the process of transmitting information and common understanding from one person to another (Keyton, 2011).

There are many modes of communication: verbal, non-verbal (gestures, actions, behaviors), assistive technology devices, etc. Our job as speech pathologists is to establish and aid in communication. We can work with many different modalities to achieve this goal. Our society is a verbal society and relies heavily on verbal communication. When a child or adult is unable to communicate verbally this can often be stressful for the individual and family. We work with a variety of verbal communication disorders such as articulation delays, apraxia of speech, and dysarthria. If verbal communication is not possible, we then work on an alternative means of communication. This can be achieved through signs and assistive technology such as devices and picture systems. At Ramsey Therapy we believe in the total communication approach and focus on the best way to get each individual communicating based on their personal need, which includes speech teletherapy.

Many of our clients have inadequate oral motor skills due to either muscle weakness or poor coordination. These oral motor deficits can cause disturbances with speech production and swallowing. During teletherapy speech therapy sessions, our therapists can demonstrate their extensive training in oral motor deficits and their impact on speech and swallowing.