What is Speech-language Therapy?

Speech-language Therapists  (known as Speech Pathologists in Australia) are educated at university level to assess and treat people who have a communication disorder, and train others such as nurses, teachers and parents to provide support in hospital, school and home settings.

 

Communication disorders can be as a result of problems with speech, using and understanding language, voice, fluency and hearing impairment.  Reading and writing can also be affected by communication problems.  Speech Language Therapists also work with people who have difficulty swallowing food and drink.  Communication and/or swallowing disorders can not only occur in the cleft lip and palate population, but are also associated with conditions such as cerebral palsy, intellectual impairment, stroke, head injury, hearing loss, vocal fold dysfunction and autism spectrum disorder.

 

In developed countries, communication and swallowing disorders occur in about 1 in 7 people at some point in the life span. With a population of over 80 million, and with the legacy of defoliants from the war, poor maternal and child health and nutrition, communication and swallowing disorders can be expected to affect about 13 million people in Vietnam.

Trinh Foundation Australia Speech Pathologist, working with the staff at Hoi An Orphanage to help improve the communication abilities of cerebral palsy children.