Voice, Speech & Swallowing Conditions

Speech-language therapy can be helpful for those who have difficulty communicating or swallowing — disorders caused by neurologic conditions, cancer, injury to the vocal cords, or other issues that affect speech and swallowing.

Communication problems fall into two main categories:

• Speech impairment – Affects articulation (how speech sounds are made), voice (pitch or volume) and fluency (smoothness or flow).
• Language impairment – Affects understanding or using language, such as how to use language appropriately in social situations (pragmatics).

Conditions That Require Therapy

At El Camino Health, our speech-language pathologists use a variety of therapies to manage speech, language and swallowing disorders. They develop a personalized program that includes education and one-on-one therapy to meet your specific needs. El Camino Health offers both inpatient and outpatient speech-language therapy services.

Neurologic Disorders

People with brain injury or illness — such as stroke, Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis — often have both speech and language impairments, as well as swallowing difficulties. They often need several speech-language therapies, including cognitive-linguistic training, swallowing therapy, pragmatics and Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT).

Speech-language pathologists are part of the inpatient rehabilitation team at the Acute Rehabilitation Center.

Speech and Swallowing Conditions

Our speech-language pathologists treat conditions such as dysphagia (swallowing disorder) — common in those with head and neck cancers — articulation disorders (such as lisping or mispronunciation), fluency disorders (stuttering) and other conditions. Therapists use a variety of techniques to address these issues, including VitalStim® Therapy for swallowing disorders, and training in articulation, fluency and more.

Voice Disorders

There are a number of things that can damage your vocal cords and affect your voice, such as overuse, chronic coughing and smoking. A number of conditions also can cause vocal cord injury, including throat (laryngeal) cancer, spasmodic dysphonia and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

El Camino Health's speech-language pathologists provide personalized voice therapies to reduce strain on the vocal cords and improve voice quality.