Speech Therapy

Speech therapy, also known as speech-language therapy, is a specialized form of therapy focused on evaluating and treating communication and swallowing disorders. At Niramaya Hospitals, our Speech Therapists provide comprehensive evaluations and individualized treatment plans for speech, language, voice, cognition, and swallowing disorders. Dedicated to delivering quality care, our therapists work closely with each patient to ensure their success and improve their overall communication abilities.

Children’s Services

• Speech Delay
• Speech Disorder
• Stuttering
• Voice Disorder
• Language Delay
• Language Disorder
• Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT)
• Swallowing Assessment and Treatment which Includes Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation
• Improving Memory and Attention Skills

Adults Services

• Articulation/Speech
• Stuttering
• Speech Disorder Due to Stroke, Brain Injury or Progressive Neurological Diseases
• Language Disorder due to Stroke
• Cognitive-linguistic Disorders following Brain Injury
• Voice Disorder
• Treating swallowing disorders through various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, including addressing oral sensory, motor, and behavioral aspects related to feeding disorders.

What Are the Common Speech Disorders?

There are many common speech disorders that often require speech therapy intervention. These include:

Articulation Disorders: These involve difficulties in producing sounds or pronouncing words correctly, leading to substitutions, omissions, additions, or distortions of certain speech sounds.

Fluency Disorders: Such as cluttering and stuttering, impact the speed, flow, and rhythm of a child's speech. Children with stuttering may experience partial-word repetitions, abnormal stoppages, and prolonged syllables and sounds. Meanwhile, cluttering involves rapid speech and the merging of words.

Voice/Resonance Disorders: These disorders arise from abnormalities in the vocal cords or resonance chambers, impacting the volume, pitch, or quality of the voice. Conditions such as swollen tonsils, cleft palate, or neurological disorders can contribute to these disorders.

Aphasia: This communication disorder affects comprehension and expression, impairing a child's ability to understand and use language effectively. Aphasia is often acquired, with stroke being a common cause.

Dysarthria: Characterized by slurred or slow speech, dysarthria results from weakness or paralysis of the muscles involved in speech production, typically due to neurological impairments affecting motor control. These disorders can significantly impact a child's ability to communicate effectively and may require specialized therapy to address and improve speech and language skills.

For Children

Speech Therapy for Children

At Niramaya Hospital, speech therapy is tailored to each individual, whether in small groups or one-on-one sessions, depending on the type of speech disorder. Activities, play, and exercises are customized based on the child's age, disorder, and specific needs. During therapy, speech therapists engage children through play, conversation, and visual aids like pictures and books to facilitate language development. They also demonstrate correct syllables and sounds to help children produce accurate speech.

Swallowing and Feeding Therapy

Swallowing and feeding difficulties can significantly impact an individual's overall health and well-being. Our speech-language pathologists specialize in addressing these challenges through targeted therapy. Using a variety of oral exercises, including facial massage and tongue, lip, and jaw exercises, they aim to strengthen the muscles of the mouth for eating, drinking, and swallowing. Different food textures and temperatures may be introduced to enhance oral awareness during mealtime.

Dysphagia in adults

Dysphagia, a condition affecting swallowing function in adults, can significantly impact quality of life. To address this, VitalStim Therapy, a patented Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) process and equipment system, has been developed specifically for dysphagia treatment.

Cleared by the FDA, VitalStim Therapy focuses on muscle re-education by stimulating key muscles involved in pharyngeal contraction. Backed by comprehensive clinical data and two patents, it is used as an adjunct therapy alongside other swallowing-related exercises. VitalStim Therapy has been shown to be safe, accelerate recovery time, and achieve sustained improvement in swallowing function, as demonstrated in a 3-year follow-up study submitted to the FDA.