Speech Therapy

Speech Therapy involves the rehabilitation and treatment of physical and cognitive problems that lead to difficulty with overall communication. It aims to increase communication skills through a variety of efforts, including articulation, intonation, and phonology. Communication challenges lead to difficulty with verbal and nonverbal interaction.

Speech Language Pathologists are responsible for diagnosing a wide range of speech disorders, including those with swallowing. Speech difficulties can arise as a result of stroke, head injury, surgery, brain tumor, tracheotomy, and more. Speech Language Pathologists at Holzer are committed to maximize each patient’s function in their daily lives.

Speech Therapy includes, but is not limited to:

• Speech: Phonation, articulation, fluency, resonance, and voice including aeromechanical components of respiration.
• Voice: Vocal Quality (hoarseness and dysphonia), poor vocal volume (hypophonia), abnormal (rough, breathy, strained
• Swallowing Disorders
• Language: Phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatic/social aspects of communication including comprehension and expression in oral, written, graphic, and manual modalities, language processing, pre literacy and language-based literacy skills, phonological awareness.
• Cognitive communication: Attention, memory, problem solving, executive functions.

NMES Therapy

What is Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES) Therapy?

Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation uses small electrical currents to stimulate the muscles and nerves for swallowing.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) therapy is very effective for preventive degeneration or for rehabilitation of strained and numb muscles following an injury or stroke.

During an NMES treatment, electrodes are placed on the skin over the targeted muscles. NMES passes safe electrical impulses through the area. This process is done to stimulate the nerves in the muscle. This helps to restore the communication between the brain and the muscular system in such a way that your muscles are “retrained” to function normally again.

Additionally, our trained professionals offer services combined with our physicians in performing video fluoroscopy examinations. Subsequently, interventions are designed to assist with a return to more normal swallowing.

Our highly trained and skilled Speech and Language Pathologists work diligently to provide our patients with evidence based approaches offering the highest quality of care.