New TWIST to Speech Therapy: Innovative Technology Brings Hope for Survivors of Strokes and Head Injuries and People with Language-Based Learning Disabilities
Stroke and traumatic brain injury survivors, as well as victims of degenerative neurological conditions and students with language-based learning disorders can now immerse themselves in a new TWIST to speech therapy. Noted Maryland speech-language pathologist, Joan Green, M. A. CCC-SLP, has developed a new intensive technology based rehabilitation program approach in Maryland.
Potomac, MD (PRWEB) June 10, 2006
Stroke and traumatic brain injury survivors, as well as victims of degenerative neurological conditions and students with language-based learning disorders can now immerse themselves in a new TWIST to speech therapy. Noted Maryland speech-language pathologist, Joan Green, M. A. CCC-SLP, has developed an exciting practical approach for helping people using technological breakthroughs. Innovative Speech Therapy (IST) , an expanded, high-tech, outpatient speech therapy center in Potomac, Maryland, founded by Green, announces a new program called Technology with Innovative Speech Therapy (TWIST).
Green, a 20-year veteran speech therapist, says, "TWIST provides hope and empowers people to jumpstart rehabilitation and education efforts while saving time and money in the process even after discharge from other speech therapy programs.” The TWIST program is among the first speech-language therapy programs to integrate computers and technology into an intensive rehabilitation program. TWIST features eighteen hours of intensive individualized speech therapy that specifically defines a patient’s communication and cognitive strengths and weaknesses.
It then matches those strengths and weaknesses with advanced computer software, adaptive hardware, and other helpful devices and resources, along with more traditional techniques. TWIST provides people with the opportunity to tackle their challenges head-on through the many benefits of technology. Throughout the TWIST program, participants engage in computer activities selected and adapted to match their personal learning style while keeping in mind their reading, visual, perception, writing, language, speech, voice and memory, attention, concentration, problem-solving, and thinking abilities. The user’s motivation, ability to stay on-task and frustration tolerance, as well as the goals of his or her therapy, all play a role in the selection of programs and computer software. The program also incorporates family members and volunteers in the education and recovery process.
Along with a renewed feeling of hope, participants return home at the end of the program with a comprehensive home practice program, software, and additional tools and resources that were found to be of greatest value. A one-year subscription to IST’s customized quarterly newsletter is also included so that participants can continue to be informed of new technologies that may be of help.
Through Green’s vision of helping people improve their overall quality of life by compensating for deficits and strengthening areas of weakness, participants are able to enhance their involvement in many aspects of daily life. Her program is a catalyst for change in how speech therapy is delivered. Patients with untapped potential no longer have to be dismissed without hope of further improvement due to lack of funding; changing reimbursement policies of Medicare, HMOs, and private insurance companies; and large caseloads in the schools. Goals of the program include maximizing participants’ abilities to communicate with friends and family, talk on the phone, read the paper, send e-mail messages, organize their home and work environments, succeed in school and at work, and participate in recreational and social activities.
TWIST can reach geographic locations where no speech-language pathologists are available. It is an optimum solution for families who would like to supplement current therapy sessions or take the lead in the recovery process to achieve new skills as quickly and comprehensively as possible.
The vast majority of people with communication and cognitive limitations can benefit from the newest advances in technology. Voice recognition software can help people who are unable to write by typing what they say. Computerized text readers can help people who have difficulty reading by reading text out loud. Talking dictionaries and word prediction software can help people find the words they want to use. Specialized software with customizable exercises can enable people to practice for hours each day to improve the speed and extent of their progress. Adapted e-mail programs and web browsers provide access to the Internet and its many powerful benefits. Mainstream programs such as Microsoft Windows and Word can be customized for improved accessibility. “Consumers deserve to be exposed to this information, but they need a qualified, computer-savvy communication specialist to figure out what is best to use and how to use it. Everyone has different needs and challenges and will benefit from different resources. My profession has been challenged to rethink the way speech therapy is provided,” says Green. “Appropriate technology use empowers individuals to become strong self-advocates and to become more independent. We are in the midst of a service delivery and treatment revolution. Technology holds great promise for a wide variety of people with communication and cognitive challenges.”
Green goes on to say, “Although speech rehabilitation becomes much more dynamic, successful, and appealing once individuals are exposed to the software and how to use it, many speech-language pathologists are not familiar with the use of technology.” According to Green, most universities do not integrate this information into their courses or clinical practicum, and there are too few continuing education opportunities to learn about this new, exciting, and innovative treatment approach.
Green has developed a unique expertise in her career as a speech pathologist over the past 20 years. She has worked in acute care hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, home care agencies, stroke centers, and private practice. Over the years, she has spent countless hours researching ways to use technologies to reach or exceed therapy goals, including reviewing hundreds of software titles. “It is not just the software selection, but when and how it is used with each client that’s key to success,” she says.
In a March 30, 2006, report to Congress, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that 5.3 million U. S. citizens (2 percent of the population) are living with a disability as a result of a traumatic brain injury. It is further estimated that approximately 1 million Americans currently have aphasia (a communication disorder that results from damage to language centers of the brain), and that number grows by 80,000 each year. A growing amount of other reliable data indicates that learning disabilities in adults are a widespread problem. Language disorders are being found in adults who failed to develop normal language skills because of mental retardation, autism, hearing impairment, or other congenital or acquired disorders of brain development.
Like any other program, this new speech pathology program is most effective when participants have the proper attitude and continually work on their home practice program. For more information on Innovative Speech Therapy or the TWIST program please visit www. innovativespeech. com.
About Innovative Speech Therapy: Innovative Speech Therapy, a speech-language pathology practice based in the Washington, D. C. area, offers a unique rehabilitation service that focuses on integrating high technology into therapy to improve the overall quality of life for people with cognitive and communication challenges from head injuries, strokes, and learning disabilities. The founder, Joan Green, speaks around the country and offers consulting services to hospitals, clinics, and graduate SLP programs that need assistance establishing computer centers and training opportunities for professionals to learn more about how to use technology to help their clients.
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