Welcome to the Complex Neuro-rehabilitation Unit’s Speech and Language Therapy Department.
Our team
We are a team of Speech and Language Therapists who are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).
Our work includes:
We assess, treat and support people with
- Speech difficulties- Dysarthria, Dyspraxia
- Language difficulties – Receptive and expressive Aphasia (Dysphasia),
- Cognitive – communication disorders
- Swallowing problems – Dysphagia
We link with other therapists for expertise around other difficulties eg. Dysfluency (Stammering), Dysphonia (voice problems).
Communication
Patients work towards jointly set personalised communication goals using a range of approaches appropriate to their needs. Therapy may include exercises to restore lost function, compensatory strategies and supported communication advice for others. It can be delivered in individual, group and functional settings. Our aim is to maximise participation using verbal and non-verbal means. We work within challenging but safe, friendly and interactive communicative environments.
We are also involved in capacity assessments, supporting decision and choice making and general communication within the wider multidisciplinary team.
Swallowing
We assess swallowing at mealtimes and during sessions, to ensure safety and as much independence as possible in eating and drinking. We may provide exercise programmes to rehabilitate swallowing, provide advice about positioning and other safe swallowing strategies or recommend safest consistencies of food or drink.
We may refer for instrumental assessment such as video-fluoroscopy (currently not on-site) to support rehabilitation or decision making about swallowing. We often liaise with other members of the team, such as dietitians for nutritional assessment, physiotherapists for optimal positioning, occupational therapists for equipment and strategies to increase independence in feeding, clinical neuro-psychologists for behaviours around mealtimes and family for support and carry-over.