Better Hearing & Speech Awareness: Communication Across the Lifespan

Communication disorders are among the most common conditions in children and adults, affecting tens of millions of people in the United States alone. Left untreated, these disorders can have a negative impact on a person’s social, academic, and career success—as well as their overall quality of life.

With early treatment by a speech-language pathologist (SLP), many communication disorders can be improved, reversed or even prevented. Fortunately, treatment at any age or any stage can make a positive impact.

Speech language pathologists work to prevent, assess, diagnose and treat a variety of speech, language, social communication, cognitive communication and swallowing disorders, including:

• Articulation & Phonological Disorders
• Augmentative Communication
• Cognitive Retraining
• Long COVID Symptoms Related to Cognition, Swallowing, Communication
• Receptive & Expressive Language Disorders
• Selective Mutism
• Speech-Language Delay/Disorders
• Stuttering & Fluency Disorders
• Swallowing Dysfunction
• Video Fluoroscopy Swallow Study-Radiology
• Voice & Resonance Disorders

At Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (PVHMC), our speech and language pathologists are certified in working with patients of all ages – from pediatric and adolescent to adult and geriatric patients.

What is the difference between speech and language?

Speech is the ability to produce speech sounds using the mouth, lips, and tongue. An individual may say sounds the wrong way, repeat sounds and words, or be otherwise difficult to understand. Language is the ability to use and put words together — and to understand others’ words. Someone may have trouble understanding questions, following directions, or naming objects.

Speech and Language Therapy in Childhood

At our Milestones Centers for Child Development, located at the Pomona Valley Health Centers in Claremont and Chino Hills - Grand, therapy is focused on building language skills, as well as on reinforcing comprehension skills and expanding verbal language abilities.

Pediatric therapy is typically recommended to begin in patients who can only say a few words – we then work to expand their skills to expressive language and multi-word utterances so they can better communicate their wants and needs. Early speech and language treatment sets a child up for future school and social success.

As children progress into the school-age years, therapy switches to academic language concerns, articulation (difficulty in production of specific sounds) so they can better communicate their wants and needs, as well as building social language skills to help with developing relationships.

Speech and Language in Adults

Speech and language problems can present in adulthood due to numerous reasons. These include brain injury, stroke and diseases affecting the brain such as Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s. Disorders can also result from breathing problems, cancers in the head or neck, voice damage and numerous other causes.

Our adult SLPs work both in the outpatient and inpatient hospital settings.

In an inpatient setting, they are trained in aiding adults who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, strokes, etc., assess for swallow abilities to prevent aspiration pneumonia in sick patients and help with recovering communication abilities.

Our outpatient SLP program focuses on improving communication, cognition and swallowing abilities through daily or weekly therapy sessions. This includes rebuilding language deficits that have been acquired due to injuries such as aphasia, the inability to speak and understand speech, which is commonly seen in adults who have experienced a stroke.

Patients who have suffered a traumatic brain injury often present with cognitive communication disorders. These patients typically have difficulty maintaining attention to tasks, organizing thoughts, problem-solving, and struggle with short and long-term memory deficits. Our SLPs work with each patient individually to retrain their lost language functions and aid them in returning to their prior level of function.

Alternative-Augmentative Communication

At times, patients are unable to use their natural voice to communicate. Alternative-Augmentative Communication (AAC) can help bridge that gap. Alternative means to be used instead of speech; augmentative means to add to someone’s speech; and AAC refers to all the ways that someone communicates besides talking, including gestures and high-tech speech-generating devices.

People of all ages can use AAC if they have trouble with speech or language, whether due to acquired deficits or developmental delays. Some people use AAC throughout their life. Others may use AAC only for a short time (for example, post-surgery and cannot talk verbally). Our pediatric and adult outpatient speech therapists are competent in working with AAC and can work towards finding the best mode suited for our patient's individual needs.

Our team is dedicated to helping our patients develop, maintain, and regain communication across the lifespan. To learn more about the Speech and Language Pathology Program at PVHMC here.