Speech therapy service

Speech therapy

It can be applied to individuals with normal speech development in society, as well as to children with various speech disorders. Speech therapy is a speciality that helps a person to communicate not only words but also thoughts.

Deafology

A branch of science that deals with children with mental and physical developmental delays.

The treatment and service areas offered in our centre are as follows:

•Rehabilitation after cochlear implantation

Before cochlear implant, children are given speech therapy (surdology) exercises using the device. Speech delay caused by hearing loss is eliminated using a hearing aid. Children receive sounds with their ears and transmit them to the central nervous system so that they can understand and distinguish sounds, thus giving them a sense of hearing. Despite normal brain development, children with hearing loss have speech delay because the transmission of sounds and speech to the brain is delayed. Children with hearing loss can become lazy if they do not wear hearing aids in time because they cannot hear sounds. Therefore, it is necessary to develop their vocabulary by using hearing aids from an early age so that their coherent speech does not lag behind.

•Articulation gymnastics (lips, tongue, jaw, cheek).

When children start to speak, they tend to mispronounce sounds and words. Due to the age of the child, it is seen that the pronunciation of most of the letters is wrong. For example, it is considered normal for a 5-year-old child not to be able to pronounce the ‘r’ sound correctly, while a child of the same age pronouncing the ‘sh’ sound incorrectly is considered a deficiency. In children who are 5-6 years old, if their speech is not normal or if they cannot pronounce the letters correctly, a speech therapist should be consulted.

•Treatment of phonetic and phonemic retardation

Children hear and repeat unfamiliar words in spoken language. In this period, they can change the letters in words until the age of one. If the child's speech does not improve according to the expected age range and this problem persists, the child should be referred to speech therapy examinations. Long-term speech therapy is essential.

•Stammering (logoneurosis)

The causes of stuttering include incomplete speech development, diaphragm disorders, psychological reasons, stress and breathing action. Genetic factors also play an important role in stuttering. Treatment of stuttering takes a long time. People with stuttering have difficulty in pronouncing the words at the beginning or in the middle of the word. During the treatment, people who stutter are taught to use the diaphragm correctly, to shape the breath, and fluent speech techniques. Although these techniques are initially applied in speech therapy sessions, they should be continued at home and in daily life.