Definitions

Hearing and Communication Disorders

Alzheimer’s/ Dementia: The term "dementia" describes symptoms related to memory loss and overall cognitive impairment. Alzheimer's Disease is the most common and well-studied cause of dementia and affects up to 70% of those diagnosed with dementia. Dementia has many causes and is progressive in nature and often irreversible. The symptoms vary slightly depending on the diagnosis, but dementia is characterized by subtle memory loss that gradually worsens over time. As the disease progresses an individual may experience episodes of confusion like getting lost in familiar areas or problems handling personal affairs (finances, housekeeping, grooming, etc.). Personality changes, such as depression, difficulty following simple directions, and decreasing communication skills are also common symptoms. Difficulty swallowing can also occur.

Apraxia: Oral motor difficulties are often termed as Apraxia. Other common references include apraxia of speech, verbal apraxia, and dyspraxia. In essence, apraxia is a speech disorder caused by damage to the parts of the nervous system that control speech. People with apraxia know what words they want to say, but their brains have difficulty coordinating the muscle movements necessary to say those words. The severity of apraxia depends on the nature and severity of the damage to the nervous system.

Augmentative and Alternative Communication: Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) refers to ways (other than speech) that are used to send a message from one person to another. These assistive techniques are used for young children who’s ability to speak is delayed and need help communicating as they are learning to talk.

It is important to note that augmentative communication users don't stop using speech. In fact, when standard speech is used in conjunction with special augmentative communication, not only does overall communication ability increase, but also so does performance in social interactions and in school. Feelings of self-worth are enhanced and job opportunities are improved.

Augmentative or alternative communication may be as straightforward as helping people to use gestures, sign language, pictures, drawings or special symbols to communicate. More advanced communication aids such as language boards and electronic devices are also used. For example, electronic devices are available that can “speak” in response to entries on a standard keyboard, a computer touch screen, or from any number of different switches. These inputs can be controlled with motions as simple as a push of a button, a puff of air, or the wrinkle of an eyebrow.

Auditory Processing Disorder: When people have difficulty “making sense” of speech sounds despite having normal hearing acuity they are described as having Auditory Processing Disorder. The symptoms include poor listening skills, difficulty following directions, inattentiveness and the tendency to be easily distracted. Other symptoms include problems with reading, spelling, and memory.

Autism Spectrum Disorder: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental (nervous system) disorder. People with ASD often display patterns of restricted and repetitive behaviors. There is usually some degree of cognitive impairment as well characterized by difficulty with communication and social interaction. Indeed, significantly impaired communication is a key indicator of this diagnosis. Individuals with ASD have significant difficulty with using and understanding words and gestures, and often have varying degrees of self-absorption and the inability to be engaged with others people. Treatment is provided through individual practitioners and community clinics as well as through local pre-school and school-age programs. Effective intervention will focus on helping the child or adult use words and gestures more efficiently, becoming a more efficient initiator of language and communication partner.

Cleft Palate/Craniofacial Disorder: A craniofacial disorder refers to an abnormality of the face and/or the head. Craniofacial differences can result from abnormal growth patterns of the face or skull, which involves soft tissue and bones. A craniofacial condition may affect a child's speech production and/or swallowing abilities.

Corporate Speech Pathology: Corporate speech-language pathologists work as consultants to businesses. Among the professional communication services provided are accent reduction, speech and voice improvement, and public speaking instruction. Corporate speech language pathologists often focus on cultural sensitivity as it relates to communication and business communication etiquette.

Developmental Delay: Developmental Delay is when your child does not reach developmental milestones at the expected times. It is an ongoing, major delay in the process of development. If your child is slightly or only temporarily lagging behind, that is not called developmental delay. Delay can occur in one or many areas—for example, motor, language, social, or thinking skills.

English Language Learners: Speech Language Pathologists also work with people who use English as a second language. Non-native speakers of English often need special assistance, strategies or instruction. This can be especially important for students (of all ages).

Hearing Related Speech and Language Difficulties: Speech and language performance is affected by hearing loss. These issues often interfere with academic success.

Language Learning Disabilities: Individuals may be slow to develop language comprehension or the use of language to express themselves. Language learning disabilities are caused by a difference in brain structure that is present at birth and is often hereditary. These problems interfere with age-appropriate reading, spelling, and writing, and as a result often lead to difficulty in school. This disorder does not impair the development of intelligence, however. In fact, most people diagnosed with language learning disabilities possess average to superior intelligence.

The term dyslexia has been used to refer to the specific learning problem of reading. Because of the increased recognition of the relationship between spoken and written language, and the frequent presence of spoken language problems in children with reading problems, the term language-based learning disabilities, or just learning disabilities, is more accurate. Speech Language Pathologists facilitate the understanding and use of language for people with learning disabilities.

Literacy and Reading: Language-based reading disabilities - children with oral language impairments often experience difficulty in reading and writing as well. This can take the form of difficulty with actually sounding out the word (decoding); the acquisition of skills that support learning to decode, such as blending individual sounds to form words or breaking words into their individual sounds (phonological awareness); the understanding of what is read (reading comprehension); or their ability to write their thoughts and ideas using words and sentences in a cohesive, organized manner.

Neurological Disorders: Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s and ALS are all examples of neurological disorders affect communication skills. They result from damage to the central nervous system and create weakness, involuntary muscle movement, and/or paralysis.

Speech Sound Difficulties

Phonological Disorders: During normal development children often simplify the adult model for speech. When a child continues to rely of “oversimplification” of speech patterns (in pre-school through early school age), however, they are often diagnosed with a phonological disorder.
For example, a child may substitute one sound for another (“tup” for cup), completely drop a sound (“bu” for bus), or reduce the number of syllables in a word (“wa” for water). Some children with severe phonological disorders are very difficult to understand.

Articulation Disorders: when a person says certain speech incorrectly they have an articulation disorder. For example, when a person has difficulty making a certain sound they will often substitute another or leave the sound out completely. It is important to note that some speech sounds develop over time, so it is not uncommon or inappropriate for a three-year-old to say “wabbit.” However, a six year old should be able to say “R” sounds correctly. Some articulation disorders occur when an individual places their tongue in the wrong place or directs air incorrectly. These sound errors and distortions can be distracting or difficult for a listener to understand.

Speech-Language Evaluation: A speech-language pathologist uses several methods to evaluate speech and language skills. An in-depth review of history, a patient/family interview, and personal observation begin the process. Specific test protocols are selected to collect objective data and gain insight about where breakdowns are occurring. This data is compared to people the same age as the patient to determine the degree of delay or impairment. These tools assist the speech-language pathologist to determine an appropriate diagnosis and set an individualized course for treatment.

Stroke and Aphasia: A stroke occurs when the brain is deprived of oxygen as a result of a blockage or hemorrhage in major blood vessel within the brain. Several factors increase the risk of a stroke. These include: high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, high cholesterol levels, alcoholism, smoking and certain types of medications.

Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to language centers of the brain and is characterized by difficulty understanding what people say, having trouble using words to express meaning and/or the inability to produce organized language.

As a result, individuals who were previously able to communicate through speaking, listening, reading, and writing become limited in their ability to do so. The most common cause of aphasia is a stroke, but gunshot wounds, blows to the head, brain tumor, and other sources of brain damage can also cause aphasia. Many people with aphasia also have feeding and swallowing disorders.

Stuttering: Stuttering is a disorder of speech fluency that interrupts the forward flow of speech. All individuals are dysfluent at times. In fact, most young children are dysfluent as part of normal development. What distinguishes a person who stutters from someone with normal speech is the type, frequency and intensity of the speech dysfluency.

Support Groups: The challenges of coping with a communication disorder can be difficult for a patient and their family members. Support groups exist to reach out to these individuals and provide information about current research, resources in the community, and strategies to enhance emotional balance and communication success.

Swallowing and Feeding Difficulties: Swallowing and/or feeding disorders may be found in children (pediatric/developmental) or adult (acquired) populations. Speech Language Pathologists work with this population to increase the safety and pleasure of eating experiences.

Children with feeding and swallowing difficulties - also called dysphagia - are at risk for malnutrition, dehydration, and respiratory problems. Parents are often the first to notice a feeding problem. Infants and children with dysphagia are a diverse group, ranging from premature babies to teenagers.

Tongue Thrust and Oral Myofunctional Disorders: Orofacial Myology and Oral Myofunctional Therapy are specialties within the speech pathology and dental professions that focus on thumb sucking, tongue, lip, jaw, and mouth breathing patterns that interfere with speech, swallowing, and teeth. The goal of treatment is to establish new neuromuscular patterns for the tongue and lips, which often results in more successful orthodontic and speech treatment.

Traumatic Brain Injury: Damage to the brain can cause changes in learning, organization, speech, language, problem solving, and/or behavior and social skills. A speech-language pathologist works collaboratively with other rehabilitation and medical professionals (doctors, nurses, neuropsychologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, social workers, employers, and teachers) and families to provide a comprehensive evaluation and treatment plan for patients with traumatic brain injury.

Voice: Difficulties with voice quality may be the result of misuse of the voice, trauma to the throat, degenerative neurological disorders or growths within the speech mechanism. There are a variety of causes for these voice problems. People can become hoarse temporarily by cheering at a baseball game or can sustain an injury that causes a paralysis of the vocal folds. Misuse of your voice, such as talking too loudly or using a pitch level that is too high or too low, can result in a voice problem. Improper breathing and excessive smoking are also common causes. Vocal abuse will result in vocal fold nodules and polyps, which often require surgery to correct. Sometimes voice disorders occur without apparent cause. These include spasmodic dysphonia and paradoxical vocal fold movement.

Most voice problems can be improved dramatically with the help of a speech-language pathologist. Others require a combination of medical or surgical treatment and speech-language pathology services. When improper use of the voice has caused a condition requiring surgery, the help of a speech-language pathologist is necessary to avoid a recurrence of the problem. With some conditions, such as cancer of the larynx, an otolaryngologist (ENT) may recommend surgery and pre-surgical counseling with a speech-language pathologist. For example, patients who have had their larynx (voice box) removed (laryngectomy) may require the help of a speech-language pathologist to learn new strategies for voice production.

Definitions Audiology

Assistive Listening Devices: A device other than a hearing aid that is used to facilitate listening. These devices may use a variety of technologies to amplify sound and are used for telephones, captioning units and alerting devices (telephones, smoke detectors, doorbells, baby monitors, etc.). Some assistive listening devices are used meetings, theaters, churches, etc.

Audiological Assessment: A series of tests to assess and diagnosis the status of the hearing mechanism, and degree of hearing loss.

Auditory Evoked Response: An objective measure of the electrical activity in the brainstem in response to sound that assesses the status of several auditory structures.

Auditory Processing Testing: See auditory processing disorders under speech language disorders definitions of disabilities.

Aural/Audiological Rehabilitation: Services for individuals with hearing loss to improve communication ability, including the use of hearing aids, assistive listening devices, auditory training, speech reading, communication strategies and counseling/support for psychosocial adjustment to hearing loss and their families.

Balance therapy: Provide evaluation and treatment for individuals with balance disorders through habituation, exercise therapy and balance retraining.

Cochlear Implants: coming soon

Cochlear Mapping: coming soon

Cochlear Rehabilitation: coming soon

Communication Training: instruction provided to individuals with hearing loss to maximize his or her communication potential (with or without hearing devices).

Deaf: Having minimal or no hearing.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services: coming soon

Degrees of Hearing Loss: Click here

Ear Wax (Cerumen) Removal: examination and external ear canal management, which may include removal of impacted wax.

Hard of Hearing (HOH): refers to individuals who have some degree of hearing loss usually does not refer to profound hearing loss.

Hearing Aids: Any personal electronic device that amplifies sounds and delivers the sound to an individual's ear. Hearing aids consists of a microphone, amplifier and receiver. The hearing aid may be worn on the body, behind the ear or in the ear canal. Hearing aids may be worn in one ear (unilateral) or in both ears (bilateral).

Hearing Conservation: Education on excessive noise exposure and how to prevent damage in both the workplace and for recreational noise exposure.

Hearing Impairment: Hearing losses that range from slight to deafness.

Hearing Screening: A hearing screening is a quick measure to determine those who require additional assessment of hearing. Screening programs may occur in the newborn nursery, schools, medical settings or community settings.

Industrial Audiology: Assessment of hearing and periodic monitoring, to determine the effects of industrial noise exposure on hearing sensitivity. Educating workers on prevention of hearing loss in the workplace.

Tinnitus Management: Assessment and non-medical management of tinnitus (ringing in the ears). May include hearing testing, biofeedback, masking, hearing aids, education and counseling.

Tympanometry: An objective measure to assess the status of the middle ear system.