Helping People Communicate

Our speech-language department can determine the extent of a patient’s impairment and develop a treatment plan. We’re here to help you get started on the road to recovery.

Being able to communicate and express yourself - your thoughts is a fundamental part of our everyday life. For people with communication problems, it can be difficult to learn new information or even to find the right words to communicate effectively. As their ability to speak, listen, read and write is affected, daily living can become increasingly frustrating - even isolating.

If you or a loved one is experiencing complications, our speech-language pathologists can assess, diagnose, treat, and provide therapeutic services for disorders related to speech, language, cognitive-communication, voice, swallowing, and fluency. Also, mealtimes represent an important social ritual that can become difficult and somewhat intimidating for those who are unable to swallow safely.

Speech Pathology Services

Using an array of strategies and one-on-one care, our professionals can develop a custom program to help improve your speech function, such as:

Articulation Therapy: a program for people with articulation disorders to learn the proper production of speech sounds.
Fluency Treatment: techniques to help individuals who stutter speak more fluently.
Voice Therapy: procedures to assist people with voice disorders to improve their voice quality.
Speech and Language Therapy: a treatment plan that helps individuals with aphasia (a disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language) relearn speech and language skills, and improves all forms of communication.
VitalStim: a therapy program that assists people who have difficulty swallowing as a result of illness, surgery, stroke or injury. See below for more information.
Cognition Treatment: a process used to evaluate and help to improve overall cognition, memory, comprehension and processing after traumatic brain injuries such as a car accident.

VitalStim: A Breakthrough Treatment for Swallowing Disorder

The Speech-language pathology department at Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital offers VitalStim™ Therapy for patients suffering from dysphagia — difficulty or discomfort in swallowing.

VitalStim therapy is a noninvasive, painless treatment that uses controlled electrical stimulation to re-educate muscles to swallow. The therapy stimulates muscles to contract, increasing range of motion, preventing muscle atrophy and increasing local blood circulation. The treatment, the only one of its kind approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is prescribed by a doctor and administered by a speech-language pathologist who has received training and certification.

VitalStim can be used for patients of all ages with swallowing difficulty caused by stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, mouth or throat cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS) and other degenerative and muscular conditions. With the help of VitalStim, many patients who once relied on feeding tubes can now enjoy a meal with their families.

Healthcare Coverage

Most health care plans cover physicians’ services related to the causes of or the complications associated with communication disorders. Health plans also may provide for a speech-language pathologist to evaluate and treat impairments or loss of speech, language or swallowing that are caused by an accident or illness.

There may not be a specific reference to speech-language pathology in your health care plan. Look for terms such as “speech pathology” or “speech therapy.” Speech or language services may also be included in references to “physical therapy and other rehabilitation services” or “other medically necessary services or therapies.”