Living with Parkinson’s: How Speech Therapy Strategies Can Help
Are you or a loved one living with Parkinson’s disease? While we often focus on the condition’s physical symptoms, Parkinson’s disease can also affect how you speak–and for many, this can lead to social isolation and other issues. Fortunately, speech therapy for Parkinson’s can help you join the party once again.
Let’s consider a patient that we’ve worked with here at [site-neme]: we’ll call her Barbara. Barbara developed Parkinson’s disease in her 60s and immediately began working with experts to slow the progression of her condition, including our speech therapists.
Keep reading to learn how speech therapy for Parkinson’s helped Barbara –and how our team can help other Parkinson’s patients in the Minnesota and South Dakota area, too.
A Teacher Without a Voice
Barbara had always loved to talk, which is probably why she became a teacher. But the onset of her Parkinson’s disease changed that.
In addition to the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s–tremors, slowed movements, and a shaky gait–Barbara noticed changes in her voice. She lost her ability to speak loudly (a skill she had honed after 40 years in the classroom), and her voice became breathier and more monotone.
This fact surprised her somewhat. After all, many regard Parkinson’s as a motor, or movement, disease. However, Barbara’s speech difficulties were rooted in the changes in her body’s muscles. The same disordered motor system that made it difficult for her to walk also impacted the muscles in her respiratory system and larynx.
Finding Parkinson’s Relief with Speech Therapy
Barbara was already working with a physical therapist to help with her movement difficulties when she scheduled an appointment with the team at Prairie Rehabilitation. She and her family were concerned that communication was becoming too difficult for her, and they didn’t want Barbara to miss out on social opportunities due to her condition.
We began with a comprehensive examination to help us understand Barbara’s specific difficulties. Her concerns were mostly with her voice; her condition was not yet affecting her swallowing ability. So, we focused our attention on communication strategies:
We guided her through specific strengthening exercises for the affected muscles.
We utilized different technological devices that helped her speak more loudly, including an app that cued her when she wasn’t speaking loudly enough and a set of headphones that generated white noise, forcing her to speak up.
We suggested strategies to help her save her energy when communicating, including various alternative and augmentative communication strategies (AACs). Barbara loved to talk, but we showed her that other methods of communication work just as well, too!
We worked with Barbara’s loved ones to provide strategies for how they could help ensure Barbara could participate in conversations.
Will Speech Therapy for Parkinson’s Help Your Loved Ones?
Speech therapy for Parkinson’s is an often overlooked aspect of treatment, especially in the early stages. But it’s never too early to meet with one of our speech therapists to learn more about how Parkinson’s can affect your voice, speech, and swallowing abilities.
Ready to get started? Request your appointment with Prairie Rehabilitation today!