Stroke or brain injury can happen suddenly, changing someone’s life forever. Physical challenges are common, but many adults who have had a stroke or brain injury also experience problems with speaking, language, thinking and expression. These difficulties can impact relationships, work, and independence. Adult speech therapy can help rebuild confidence and lost skills through assessment, targeted treatment, and professional support.

The conditions that cause speech problems 

If areas of the brain involved in language, speech, and cognitive functions are damaged during a stroke or head injury, communication may be affected. The location and severity of the injury will determine the type and extent of the difficulty someone experiences. Aphasia, dysarthria and cognitive communication disorders are some of the most common conditions that affect adult speech and are treated with speech therapy.

Aphasia impairs someone’s ability to communicate and understand language. They may struggle to find the right words, form sentences, or follow conversations, read, and write. 

Dysarthria occurs when the muscles that help us speak become weak or poorly coordinated. This leads to slow, slurred speech, which may be difficult to understand.

Cognitive communication disorders affect skills such as attention, memory, problem-solving, and social communication. Someone with cognitive-communication difficulties may find it hard to organise their thoughts.

It can be both frustrating and upsetting to experience communication difficulties. One may find oneself withdrawing from conversations and feeling low in confidence. Speech therapy will address these difficulties and is most beneficial when initiated shortly after injury and continued regularly. 

Restoring communication skills with speech therapy

 The goal of speech therapy is to help restore speech and language or provide someone who has had a stroke or brain injury with tools to work around their difficulties. An adult speech therapist will start with a comprehensive assessment to identify strengths and difficulties and the goals the individual wishes to achieve. This may include understanding speech clarity, language, memory, reading and writing skills and functional communication. 

A personalised treatment plan will be designed based on the results of the assessment. The plan will change over time as they improve and new challenges present themselves. Speech therapy isn’t limited to improving the ability to speak clearly. It can help build the skills needed to regain independence and participate in everyday life. Whether that’s chatting with friends and family, making appointments or returning to work.

• Treating aphasia with speech therapy

Treatment for aphasia will help to restore neural pathways and build on remaining language skills. Exercises may focus on finding the correct word, forming sentences and comprehension. Therapy may include working with real-life materials, like newspaper articles, menus, reading a story or having a mock phone conversation. 

Group therapy is also helpful for some people. It provides a safe space to practise communicating with others and helps with feelings of isolation. Over time, patients will develop new language skills and learn how to communicate when unable to find the right word.

• Therapy for dysarthria

How well other people can understand the affected person is impacted by dysarthria. Therapy will target the muscles used for speaking, breathing, and articulating sounds. Patients may do exercises focusing on the movement of the lips, tongue, and jaw, as well as on loudness and speech pacing. 

Patients will learn strategies to improve their intelligibility, including slowing their speech, over-articulating vowel and consonant sounds, and using longer pauses. These techniques can be applied to real-life situations to help them speak more clearly on the phone and in social situations. As their speech becomes clearer, they will gain confidence in expressing themselves and communicating freely without worrying about being misunderstood.

• Cognitive communication disorders

Cognitive communication disorders can be easier to hide but still leave people struggling. They may have difficulty following conversations, focusing, remembering instructions and organising their thoughts. Speech therapy can help with these problems by using cognitive exercises and real-life problem-solving tasks.

A therapist will work on improving attention and memory skills. Individuals may learn to use diaries, phone reminder notes, or visual cues to help remember daily tasks. Social communication is another common issue that may be focused on. Patients may learn how to join in conversations, take turns speaking and read body language. Therapy helps people regain their independence and live their lives to the fullest.

Helping to gain independence

Regaining independence is an important step towards living life again. Therapy will focus on functional communication to help people navigate through day-to-day life. This may be ordering at a restaurant, budgeting or attending doctors’ appointments. If speech remains unclear, there are alternative and augmentative communication methods to help people communicate, such as boards, tablet apps or gesture cues. These tools allow individuals to communicate their needs when speech is limited, helping them to live independently.

The benefits of long-term therapy

Recovering from a stroke or brain injury can take time, which is why long-term speech therapy can be so beneficial. Regular sessions allow patients to continue working on their difficulties and learn new strategies as their confidence improves. Research has shown that with continued therapy past the initial stages of recovery, many adults continue to improve months and years after their injury. 

If you are looking for speech therapy in Hackney, consider seeking help from professionals, as they can provide the support you need for a fulfilling and comprehensive recovery.