Do you know the figure of the speech therapist? This is a professional who is dedicated to treating and improving language alterations and disorders.. In other words, he or she teaches how to speak better and communicate better, through specialized techniques.
But speech therapy is a very broad field; that is why there are 6 types of speech therapists, each of them focused on a specific field. In this article we will know what each specialty consists of and how these professionals can help us.
- You may be interested in: “The 10 types of psychologists and how to choose the best therapy”.
Speech therapy: what is it?
The term logopedia comes from Greek, and is formed by two words: “logos” (meaning “word”) and “paideia” (meaning education). Thus, speech therapy is the “education of the word”.
It is the science that studies language and hearing disorders that appear in children, adolescents and adults.
Language and communication are two very important elements for cognitive development, which have a lot to do with the brain and thinking. That is why all these elements are connected, and the speech therapist should know the relationship between the brain and language. But what do speech therapists do? what do speech therapists actually do?
What do speech therapists do?
The function of the speech therapist is to treat language disorders, whether they are due to an alteration in the development of language, articulation difficulties, speech, fluency, rhythm, voice, etc.
In turn, it also intervenes in language disorders originated by neurological disorders; these have to do with alterations in reading and writing language and communication. They appear as a consequence of autism, intellectual disability, other neurodevelopmental disorders, etc.
Thus, broadly speaking, this type of professional develops different activities that allow the prevention, evaluation and assessment of language disorders, communication, hearing, hearing impairment, etc.They are able to treat people of all ages, including children and adolescents, as well as people of all ages. They can treat people of all ages, from newborns (infants) to the elderly (old age).
The 6 types of speech therapists (and how they help us)
But, what are the 6 types of speech therapists? What characterizes them and how do they differ? Let’s get to know each of them:
1. Clinical speech therapist
The first of the 6 types of speech therapists we are going to talk about is the clinical speech therapist. This is the speech therapist specialized in clinic, that is to say, the one who treats language problems derived from a previous organic or mental disease or mental illness (be it a nervous disease, schizophrenia, a tumor, dementia, cerebral palsy, etc.).
Thus, it can treat both children and adults; examples of problems it can treat are: language problems arising from a previous psychopathology (for example, schizophrenia or anxiety), dysphemia (stuttering), stuttering speech, articulation problems, etc.
2. School speech therapist
The school speech therapist, as the name suggests, works in the school environment.. It is precisely in this environment where language and communication problems are detected first.
This type of speech therapist usually deals with mutism, dysphemia, dyslexia, dyslalia, etc. In addition, her patients may or may not have an associated neurodevelopmental disorder that causes these symptoms, such as autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disability.
He also works with students with sensory impairment (e.g. deafness), enhancing their communication skills. Thus, this type of speech therapist can also work in special education schools (not only regular schools).
3. Geriatric speech therapist
The next type of speech therapist is the geriatric speech therapist.The geriatric speech therapist is responsible for intervening with elderly people who present speech (or language) difficulties or alterations due to age or other concomitant medical conditions.
This is why they usually work in more residential and elderly contexts (e.g. nursing homes, day centers…), but also in hospitals. The functions performed by this type of professional in the field of the elderly include: assessing and intervening in communication disorders, stimulating oral and written language, teaching the use of compensatory strategies to find the right word, etc.
On the other hand, the geriatric speech therapist will also be able to work with the patient on the comprehension and expression of complex sentences that may have been reduced by memory difficulties associated with old age.
4. Pediatric speech therapist
The child speech-language pathologist works with children (and sometimes also with adolescents) with language disorders.. This type may overlap with the school and/or clinical speech pathologist, if the professional’s specialty is childhood.
Language in childhood and adolescence receives great attention, especially in infancy, since it is a very important stage, where the child begins to speak for the first time (around the age of 3 years).
In this case the child speech therapist usually treats cases of dysphemias, specific language disorder (SLD), articulation disorders (dyslalia), whether the latter are caused by a functional factor or by an organic factor (for example, having a cleft lip).
On the other hand, as in previous cases, they also usually treat cases of children with autism, intellectual disability, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), etc. In fact, as a curious fact that few imagine, child speech therapists can even treat babies who were born deaf, to enhance their communication, either through oral language or other ways.
5. Neurologist
Neurologopedics is a branch of speech therapy that focuses on language disorders in people with language disorders in people with a disease, injury or affectation in the nervous system (e.g. stroke, cerebral palsy, brain damage, traumatic brain injury, etc.). (e.g. stroke, cerebral palsy, brain damage, traumatic brain injury, etc.). In other words, the neurologist is another type of speech therapist, who has specialized in neuropsychology, and has notions of neurology, speech therapy and psychology.
Neurologists treat language disorders that appear as a consequence of brain damage or a specific neurological disease. Their goal is to design specific interventions for each particular case, in order to help the patient recover language (e.g. after a stroke), or to improve it.
They usually work in a clinical context (e.g. a hospital) or in a school context.
6. Speech therapist specializing in voice
The last of the 6 types of speech therapist is the speech therapist specializing in the voicewhich is an element of oral language. This type of professional focuses on two central elements: voice disorders and voice re-education.
In this case, people with respiratory problems who speak in a difficult way, with people with aphonia, with pronunciation problems, articulation, etc. are treated. Thus, the voice speech therapist aims either to help a person to recover his or her voice (aphonia), or to contribute to his or her rehabilitation or to enhance his or her communicative resources.
They can also treat professionals for whom the voice is their working tool; for example presenters, radio announcers, singers, actors, etc.