How Speech Therapy Can Help Those With Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy can cause speech and language problems for a number of reasons, and the difficulties people with the condition face in terms of their speech can vary from being mild to severe.

A recent article for Cerebral Palsy News Today outlined some of the most common problems that people with the condition experience, and explained why speech therapy can help.

For example, poor oral motor control and weakness in the facial, neck and throat muscles can make it difficult for children with cerebral palsy to clearly articulate and make sounds. This can also cause dysarthria, which is when the speech is slow or slurred.

Stuttering, struggling to control the pitch and/or volume of speech, and dysphagia, which affects swallowing, can all be other reasons why those with cerebral palsy struggle with speech.

However, there are many ways in which speech therapy can be used to help with all of these issues. Arranging speech therapy in London for your child with cerebral palsy could help increase their oral motor function, strengthen key muscles and develop ways of communicating using a range of methods.

The news provider stated that, in general, “speech therapy helps in producing proper sounds, words and syllables; in regulating voice volume and in improving listening and perception, articulation and pronunciation, vocabulary, understanding and comprehension, voice quality and chewing and swallowing”.

As you can see, it could therefore be beneficial for a number of areas of your child’s life. The NHS recommends speech therapy among several treatments to help anyone with the condition live as independent a life as possible. Other recommended treatments include physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

At HeadStart we understand the importance of providing information in accessible formats to meet the diverse needs of our service users. We can provide information in different forms for example in another language, large print, easy-read materials, and technologies such as text-to-speech or audio. To request information in another format, contact us by phone or email. Shanay.nj@headstartaba.org or mobile 07988860033.