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Helping you express yourself through effective communication

Salem Health speech therapy

 

Our expert therapists can develop a rehabilitation plan to improve your well-being and independence. Salem Healh speech therapy offers: 

  • A focus on restoring or improving your communication and thinking abilities.

  • Speech-language pathologists who work as part of a team to offer you complete care.

  • A range of therapies to help you communicate and manage daily tasks. 

What is speech therapy or speech-language pathology?

Speech-language pathologists assess, diagnose and treat people who have trouble speaking, thinking, reading, writing, understanding others and expressing ideas. This field is also called speech-language therapy or speech therapy. 

 

 

How does it help?

 

Speech symptoms: it helps with slurred speech, long pauses, awkward or uneven rhythm, voice problems, producing sounds incorrectly and difficulty getting words out.

Cognitive-linguistic deficits (problems with thinking and reasoning): 

  • Difficulty organizing thoughts
  • Challenges with planning
  • Memory problems
  • Trouble with problem-solving
  • Difficulty paying attention
  • May occur after stroke or brain injury
  • May also occur with progressive illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis

Communication deficits: 

  • Difficulty understanding others
  • Difficulty expressing thoughts and feelings
  • Trouble with talking, reading and writing
  • Challenges understanding numbers, money and time
  • Often occur after a stroke or traumatic brain injury





Speech therapy treatments

We’ll teach you strategies to help compensate for thinking and communication difficulties. We’ll also design exercise and practice programs to help you improve or regain abilities. Treatments might include: 

Memory tools:  We’ll help you with memory logs, calendars, organizers and checklists.

Communication aids: We'll show you how to use computers, picture boards, gestures and writing. 

Problem-solving strategies: We’ll help you practice identifying problems and using reasoning to solve them. We might show you a photo of a car stopped on a highway, for example. Then we would ask you to identify the problem and how to solve it. 

Mouth and breathing techniques: We’ll show you how to practice correct mouth movements to say words more clearly. We can also help you pace your speech, strengthen your mouth muscles and use your breath to speak louder. 

Working with others: We can teach family members and caregivers how to communicate better with you by: 

  • Limiting background noise when talking with you. 
  • Giving you instructions in small steps: Instead of “brush your teeth,” they might say, “go to the sink,” “pick up your toothbrush,” and so on. 
  • Waiting extra time for you to answer a question. 

 





Our speech therapy providers

Eva Vazquez-Ortega, SLP

Hannah Butsch, SLP

Jeannette Fountain, SLP

Jennifer Arbaugh, SLP

Nathan Brase, SLP

Nicholas Ertsgaard, SLP

Rebecca Burke, SLP


What to expect

Our speech pathologists will:

  • Identify difficulties you're having.
  • Listen to your concerns and hopes.
  • Test your speech, language and thinking skills so we can track your progress.
  • Tailor a treatment plan to your needs and goals.
  • Provide activities you can do at home between one-on-one sessions.
Woman working with speech therapist

Salem Health Rehabilitation has convenient locations throughout the mid-Willamette Valley.