Services Offered
Speech-Language Diagnostics
Any individual exhibiting speech and/or language difficulties may schedule an evaluation concerning the suspected disorder. Through the administration of a variety of tests and observations, usually requiring two to three hours, the clinical staff evaluates the possible problem, makes a speech-language-hearing diagnosis and recommends a course of treatment if needed.
Audiological Evaluations
Audiological evaluations include a battery of tests designed to determine an individual's hearing sensitivity and need for therapy, medical treatment or hearing aid devices.
Hearing-Aid Services
Following medical release, hearing-aid services may include hearing and evaluation and dispensing, hearing-aid orientation and follow-up, aural rehabilitation therapy and speech reading.
Speech-Language Treatment
A course of treatment is provided for any individual diagnosed with a speech and/or language disorder as indicated below. Treatment is individualized to the client's needs and is usually provided in a 30-60-minute session twice a week by a graduate student clinician under the supervision of a licensed Speech Language Pathologist. Disorders treated include:
- Articulation/Phonological Disorders - individuals who are not correctly producing the sounds of their language and thus have difficulty making themselves understood to unfamiliar listeners.
- Child Language Disorders - Treatment can be provided for those children from birth through high school who have development problems with comprehension or use of language.
- Voice Disorders - Following medical release, individuals exhibiting a variety of voice disorders including harsh, horse, nasal or breathy voice quality or disorders of pitch will be provided with techniques to enhance voice and eliminate inappropriate habits that perpetuate a problem.
- Stuttering/Fluency Disorders - Individuals who are dysfluent will be trained in techniques that can enhance the fluency of their speech.
- Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders - Individuals who have experienced a stroke or traumatic brain injury resulting in aphasia, cognitively based language disorders, dysarthria or apraxia will be provided with treatment to improve communication skills. Swallowing problems may also be addressed.
- Language Delay - Assessment and treatment of language-based learning disabilities, including difficulties with oral language production and other language-based academic skills will be available.
Voice and Swallowing Care
Voice problems can include hoarseness, throat pain, and difficulty talking. These symptoms could be caused by misuse of the voice or could indicate a more serious condition. Swallowing disorders can involve painful or difficult swallowing, frequent choking or coughing, and recurrent respiratory infections. The speech pathologists and professionals who provide Voice and Swallowing Care at OLLU can assess these and other problems using a variety of tests that include:
- Acoustic assessment of voice production: This involves assimilation of voice parameters using a computerized Multi-Dimensional Voice Program.
- Aerodynamic assessment of cough and respiratory function for voice and swallowing involves the use of pneumotachometry (to measure cough flow and volume); spirometry (to measure pulmonary volumes and capacities); and manometry (measures respiratory pressures, which correlate to the strength of the respiratory musculature).
- Electromyography: Measures electrical activity of muscles for voice and swallowing via surface electrodes on the neck.
- Videostroboscopy: Allows for a magnified real-time view of the larynx and the vocal folds in motion during voicing using a small scope placed in the mouth.
- Behavioral Voice Therapy: Encompasses a myriad of professional treatment modalities for a wide range of hyperfunctional, hypofunctional, and dysfunctional voice disorders
- Flexible Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES): An exam that uses a flexible scope passed through the nose to enable direct assessment of the motor and sensory aspects of swallow.
- Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES):A non-invasive therapy designed to promote muscle activity during swallow.
- Swallowing therapies and compensatory techniques: Include behavioral and dietary treatments to manage and assure safe swallow
Additional Jersig Center Services
- Augmentative Communication Training
- Aural Rehabilitation Services
- Spanish/English Services