Speech & Language Therapy
Voted Silver for the Best of Cayman Islands 2023.
Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) is used to assess and treat patients with speech, language, and swallowing disorders. Speech disorders often consist of struggles with articulation, fluency, and voice (including motor speech disorders such as apraxia of speech and dysarthria).
Language disorders refer to any difficulties with understanding or expressing thoughts and ideas.
Common language disorders include
- receptive language disorders (struggles knowing what certain words mean or understanding language)
- expressive language disorders (struggles putting words together to form sentences)
- cognitive-communication disorders (aphasia, dementia, and executive functioning skills).
Speech Language Therapists (SLTs)
also referred to as Speech and Language Pathologists (SLPs) at the HSA work from birth through end of life. Our team provides services across multiple settings including inpatient, outpatient, and community/home health.
Our team of SLTs all possess advanced post-graduate degrees and hold multiple specialty certifications with over 20 years of combined clinical experience. Our SLTs provide supportive, patient-centred and neurodiversity affirming interventions to address disorders in speech, communication, eating and/or swallowing.
Speech and Language Therapy for Adults
SLTs support adults with motor speech disorders, communication difficulties, cognitive skills, and dysphagia difficulties due to neurological degeneration/impairment (e.g. due to stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, or a head injury). SLTs can also assist with voice disorders, fluency disorders (stuttering/stammering) and other cognitive and/or communication disorders all which negatively affect a person’s ability to communicate, eat and engage in activities of daily living.
SLTs at the HSA have advanced training in providing evidence-based interventions for adults with communication and swallowing disorders and assist adults with a variety of different conditions through individualized treatments. Such conditions and their relevant treatments include:
Post-cancer or post-surgical dysphagia (trouble or issues with swallowing) can be treated through a Vital Stim, as well as a fluoroscopic evaluation of swallowing (with radiology). Dysphagia can also be treated with oral motor exercises, a change in diet, rehabilitation, instrumental assessment of the swallow function (at the bedside/at home), or through feeding tube dependence. Our team also provides palliative support and end of life care for patients with swallowing disorders. Our team has advanced training in dysphagia assessment and rehabilitation and are certified Vital Stim Therapy and McNeil Dysphagia Therapy Protocol (MDTP) providers.
Cognitive-linguistic disorders caused by dementia, a traumatic brain injury, certain cancers, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and aphasia can all be treated through family centered training and support. Such treatments can also help assist functional communication in a community setting. Our team, which includes a Certified Dementia Practitioner has experience with providing neurological rehabilitation for patients with acquired cognitive-communication disorders and are trained in a wide range of therapeutic methods that target verbal expression, comprehension, executive functioning, augmentative/alternative communication options and community reintegration to maximize benefit from rehabilitation.
Voice and fluency disorders including aphonia, spasmodic dysphonia, vocal cord paralysis, cancer of the throat, vocal cord nodules, vocal cord overuse and more can all be treated. Aphonia is often treated through expiratory muscle trainers, whereas other disorders (such as prosody) can be managed through voice training, comprehensive assessment and treatment. Our team is also able to provide gender affirming voice therapy interventions.
Motor Speech Disorders including apraxia of speech and dysarthria may be the result of a brain injury or stroke. Other motor speech disorders manifest with the onset of degenerative motor neuron diseases, or other diseases that affect the strength and coordination of oral motor musculature. Our SLT team is able to treat a wide range of motor speech disorders through a wide range of evidence-based methods. In severe cases, our team can support patients with transitioning to the use of augmentative/alternative communication options to optimize quality of life and ensure continued communication across settings and communication partners.
Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy
SLPs help children with a variety of different conditions that may present themselves at an early age – in such cases, early intervention with SLT may be required. Conditions that can be treated include learning difficulties or difficulties pronouncing sounds, children with a cleft lip/palate, stammers, selective mutism, and other developmental disorders.
Paediatric SLPs at the HSA can assist with many disorders through various treatment programmes. These treatments, and the conditions in which they treat, include (but are not limited to):
Such assessments are used to treat lisps, articulation delays, and struggles with phonological processes through oral motor therapy and jaw stabilizations. Our team has certification in Oro-Myofunctional Therapy and have expertise with working with Cleft and Lip Palate (and other craniofacial disorders) to support the needs of patients with complex motor speech impairments who require additional support with their articulation development.
Feeding tube weaning and breast feeding/newborn feeding support is offered by the speech therapy team. Our team is advanced trained in the Sensory Oral Sequential approach (SOS) and in Vital Stim with experience in successfully treating severe paediatric feeding and swallowing disorders.
Our paediatric SLTs provide support with voice misuse, aphonia, dysphonia, vocal cord dysfunction, resonance difficulties, vocal nodules, and vocal cord paralysis. Our team has expertise in providing interventions that assist children with modifying inappropriate voicing techniques, improving voice function, and improving overall voice quality.
ASD is often treated with play and language development, functional communication support, Augmentative/Alternative Communication and family-centered care and support. Our paediatric speech therapy team has a wealth of experience with supporting Autistic children and their families to lead fulfilling, inclusive lives through parent training and coaching, play based interventions, skilled language therapy interventions and supporting alternative methods of communication to facilitate total communication.
Such treatment is used for nonverbal and/or limited verbal communicators, often supplemented by total communication supports, core boards (for tracheostomy patients) and assistive technology if needed. Our team is advanced trained in American Sign Language, use of CORE boards, eye gaze boards, PECS and also have experience with a wide range of augmentative/alternative communication applications.
Through differential assessments and diagnoses, school aged literacy and language support can be formed based on the school’s curriculum. Reading and writing support can also be used to improve phonological awareness. Our team focuses on strengths-based literacy interventions and empower children and their families to engage in evidence-based strategies that will allow children with learning disorders to develop functional coping strategies that facilitate lifelong learning.
Such treatments consist of a total communication approach, Auditory Verbal treatment, academic support, and family support and management. Our team works closely with your child’s audiologist and ENT to support family centered approach to language acquisition and communication support for children with Hearing Impairments.
Fluency disorders (stuttering) can impair a child’s ability to communicate with confidence and can lead to psycho-emotional trauma if support is not provided. Our team uses an inclusive approach, which empowers children to be confident about their speech regardless of fluency and provided a wide range of intervention options through modelling, a wide range of fluency shaping techniques and supporting their emotional needs as it relates to stuttering.
Through pragmatic language assessment, the HSA offers functional, family centered support for social skill development. Our focus on pragmatic skills includes neurodiversity affirming practices, that ensure that pragmatic skills that are targeted in therapy correlate to the intrinsic desires of the child.
Speech Therapy Group Sessions
- Once per week
- Functional based cognitive-communication activities for Neurological patients who have completed intensive rehab and require a maintenance programme to help prevent severe disability and maintain the patient’s functional independence.
- Also beneficial for patients with mild-moderate dementia to maintain cognitive-communication function.
- Promotes social interaction and functional use of strategies with communication partners.
- Provides opportunities to generalize use of augmentative/alternative devices (for those patients who require it)
Hours & Location
If you or your loved one would benefit from speech therapy interventions, please contact a member of our Speech Therapy Team 244-7675 or 244-2730.
Our Therapy Services are located at our Bay Town House location, 36 West Bay Rd.
Faith Gealey-Rochez
George Town, Grand Cayman
