CDF-Virginia

Consider a Career in Speech-Language Pathology

admin — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

A career in speech-language pathology offers a person the opportunity to work in a secure field, to earn a good living and to help a number of people. There is a high demand for speech-language pathologists in many parts of the United States including Virginia. This demand is due to a lack of trained pathologists who have the education and training to help others to learn to communicate more effectively.

In addition to working to assist people with issues speaking, speech-language pathologists also work to help people with difficulty swallowing as these problems often have similar origins to speech difficulties. Speech problems can have many causes including birth defects, diseases, injuries and mental health conditions. Speech-language pathologists will work to help all of these people to communicate more effectively.

A person must obtain a masterâ€™s level degree in speech pathology to be eligible for licensure. Many major colleges and universities with graduate schools offer speech pathology programs. In Virginia, speech pathology is offered by a number of schools including the University of Virginia and Radford University. Doctorate level programs of study in speech pathology are also offered by some institutions.

Coping with Communication Disorders After Stroke

admin — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Should you or a loved one suffer from a stroke, dealing with even the simplest of daily chores and tasks can become a considerable challenge. Many patients who are recovering from a stroke have cited problems with communicating effectively as one of the most frustrating challenges. Being unable to speak effectively and struggling to make yourself understood is not a problem that should be taken lightly, as it can have a very large impact on your lifestyle and the opportunities that you are able to take advantage of each day.

Fortunately, there are many tools and resources that are available to assist patients in their efforts to enjoy a more complete recovery. With a number of options that can be utilized in place of conventional speech, patients will be able to enjoy a short term solution that can be more readily made available. Investing the time, effort and energy needed to complete a speech therapy process can be a major long-term commitment. Working with a professional therapist or any other option that will ensure you are able to enjoy a more effective long-term recovery can be an essential concern for patients, one that should be made a top priority after suffering from a stroke.

Helping Children With Hearing Loss Communicate

www.cdf-virginia.org — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

I had recently set up my television service through direct tv and I was watching a movie I had ordered, Mr. Holland’s Opus, when it got to the part where the main character finds out his son suffers from hearing loss. For those that know or have experienced it themselves, going through hearing loss is a particularly difficult time in a child’s life and it can be just as hard on the parents too. Parents struggle to understand what their child wants and the child grows frustrated when his or her parents don’t seem to understand him. It can really tear families apart if it is not properly dealt with.

Lucky for many of us, there are services we can look to in order to handle these kinds of situations, but don’t be fooled, parents – it’s not as easy as picking out a school and just sending your kid off. Parents looking into schools for hearing loss should schedule some one-on-one time with the person who runs the school and the teachers who will have the most contact with their child. Parents should also take an active role in their child’s studies which can range from learning to sign and even showing up to class. It’s important that your child knows he or she isn’t alone in this problem.

Educational Expectations from School Systems

www.cdf-virginia.org — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Teachers are expected to do several things within the school system. Teachers must ensure that all students are receiving an appropriate education according to their stages of development. States have benchmarks that inform teachers about what exactly should be taught at specific grade levels within certain academic areas. The school’s principal will usually visit the classroom to see if the teachers are following things that have been mandated by the state. Standardized tests are given to students during the school year in order to determine if they are learning what they are expected to be learning as well as seeing if students are retaining the information they receive. Get more information here. No Child Left Behind, a federal law, requires all teachers to be highly qualified to teach a specific academic subject. In order to ensure that all teachers are highly qualified, specific college courses must be taken, specific degrees must be acquired, and teachers must take standardized tests that reveal if a teacher is highly qualified to teach. There are several other educational laws that add more expectations to the teacher. For instance, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act states that students with disabilities should receive appropriate services according to their unique needs.

Communication Disorder Statistics

admin — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

There are several forms of communication disorders including speech, hearing and site. All require special circumstances or equipment in order for the person dealing with them to be able to communicate with the rest of the world.

Statistics show that more men have hearing problems than women and that the hearing problem is more prevalent in the south than in the north. Of course age plays a major role in hearing loss and the older one gets to be the less accommodating their hearing becomes.

Unfortunately, the odds for children are just as uncompromising. Statistics state that 2 to 3 out of every 1000 children in the United States will become deaf. Some are due to untreated ear infections and some are due to heredity and other factors.

Likewise, more than 7 million people in the US have speaking problems. This is when the voice box does not work properly, and the person is physically unable to speak which is called aphasia – which literally means without speech.

These disorder statistics confirm that there is still work to be done in helping people who have problems communicating with others – starting from childhood through adulthood, speech and hearing are essential tools to take note of in regard to putting more resources into research and development.

Why Stuttering Happens: Looking for it in the Early Years

admin — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Stuttering happens when a child mimics a family member who stutters. The mental connection with the other family stutterer is very psychologically strong causing an imprinting on the child’s mind. If a child feels very much like the family member who stutters, the imprinting becomes real and the child stutters just like the other family member that he feels is just like him. How stuttering jumps from mimicking to actually producing physical symptoms in the child that will continue his stuttering is very interesting. Some of the symptoms of a stutterer are blocking of air coming up from the throat, slight psychological paralysis of the mouth when trying to speak, painful stress located in the frontal lobe of the head and blockage of mental signals from the mind as if in a catatonic state.
When you hear a child beginning to stutter, especially if the child has not stuttered before, consider the child’s close contacts whether family or friend and you will discover how the child’s stuttering happens. If there is a stutterer in the family or immediate friends or contacts, talk to the child about that person as if he were a separate person from the child. Of course, you know that, but the imprinting of stuttering is very much like the imprinting of language learning. A person is imprinted with the language of his parents and environment without being coached. A person is imprinted with stuttering and developing the physical reactions to produce that stuttering without being coached.

Sudden Hearing Loss

mgeedey — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:00:00 +0000

A sudden loss of hearing (Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss, or SSNHL) can be defined as a loss great than 30 dB in three contiguous frequencies that occurs over a period of less than three days. It is commonly noticed upon awakening, but it can also develop rapidly over a period of hours or days. Fortunately, spontaneous recovery occurs in 30-70 percent of the cases, usually within the first two weeks, but the condition should always be assessed by a physician or an emergency room. The causes of SSNHL vary widely, but assessment and treatment can only be determined by a hearing heath specialist. Physicians are finding that once they have ruled out life threatening causes, the condition may succumb to a short course of corticosteroids, antiviral agents, diuretics, and/or low-salt diets. Research shows that steroids have many effects in the inner ear, including suppression of an immune response and changes in circulation, but whether such effects are beneficial remains unclear. In the absence of definitive evidence much research needs to be concluded about pathogens before evidence-based treatment can be deemed as protocol.

Interesting Facts about Hearing Loss

www.cdf-virginia.org — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:18:58 +0000

Following are some facts provided by the Better Hearing Institute that you may find interesting. Some may seem pretty common but others may provide insight not previously considered.

Excessive noise is the number one reason for hearing loss.
Experts agree that continued exposure to noise of 85 dB or louder, over time, will eventually harm hearing.
If you cannot carry on a conversation in the presence of noise, it is too loud for your ears and can potentially cause hearing loss.
1 in 4 workers exposed to high levels of noise will develop a hearing loss.
The number one reason people seek a hearing solution is the recognition that their hearing has worsened. Usually this occurs from making a serious mistake, family pressure or safety concerns.
Professions at risk of hearing loss include firefighters, police officers, factory workers, farmers, construction workers, military personnel, heavy industry workers, musicians, and entertainment industry professionals.
The ear has over 25,000 tiny hair cells to help you hear the nuances of sound.
The vast majority of hospitals now offer newborn hearing screening before discharge from the hospital.
All children should be screened for hearing loss before 1 month of age.
85 of all children experience at least one ear infection.
Second-hand smoke in the home increases the risk of middle ear infections and respiratory allergies in children.
Infants may begin to use hearing aids as early as 2-4 months of age.
Federal laws mandate that all school districts must provide specialized education to children with hearing loss.
Even a mild hearing loss can seriously impact a child’s ability to learn in a school environment.

Understanding and Coping with Your Child’s Speech Delay

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:40:45 +0000

Communication is an ongoing, evolving process that every human experiences. From the cries and coos of an infant, to the mumblings of a young baby, verbal noises are perhaps our most effective form of indicating our wants and feelings. Most babies begin speaking actual words, to some degree, at around 18 months of age. However, there are a number of different circumstances that can result in delay of speech for a child. Speech delay comes in two forms. Some children can understand and process the sounds and speech of others, but have difficulty producing their own words, which is known as expressive delay. Conversely, other children may struggle to interpret and comprehend the words of others, making them incapable of expressing a response, referred to as receptive delay. If the speech delay is receptive, it may be caused by a hearing impairment or mental disorder such as autism or mental retardation. A child with receptive delay onset by a mental disability may also exhibit visual language disorders such as struggling with recognition of people or objects. Expressive language delays are usually due to either some sort of speech impairment, which can usually be ameliorated with therapy, or simply a child who naturally develops speaking skills later than most. An expressive language delay is often more easily overcome than a receptive delay. Parents can do things such as narrating their activities to a child throughout the day to increase their familiarity with words associated with common activities. Reading to a child is one of the best ways to help with this issue. Using picture books, so that a child can learn to understand and recognize what objects are called, helps employ both the visual and verbal skills that must be connected for speech to progress.

Types of Hearing Loss

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:19:33 +0000

Hearing loss affects millions of people of all different ages. Understanding the reason behind this impairment is one of the many steps to overcoming it. Conductive hearing loss occurs because of a deficiency in the outer-ear’s ability to conduct sound, which therefore does not reach the eardrum. This results in a lowered volume of sound heard, and an inability to hear faint sounds. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, this is a disorder developed from having too much fluid or ear wax, an infection, a foreign object, or a malformation of some part of the ear. This is one of the more correctable forms of hearing loss. Sensorineural hearing loss is permanent and cannot be easily fixed. This occurs when damage is done to the inner ear or nerves in the ear that connect to the brain. A few of the many causes of sensorineural hearing loss include disease, drugs, genetics, noise exposure, and aging.Some individuals experience a combination of both of these types of hearing loss, which is known as mixed hearing loss. Others have one of the above mentioned forms of hearing loss, but it is only present in one ear, called unilateral hearing loss. Someone may also experience varied degrees of hearing impairment in each ear, referred to as asymmetrical hearing loss. Hearing impairments can also be classified as progressive or sudden, with progressive gradually worsening over time, and sudden occurring rapidly, many times due to some sort of trauma. Fluctuating vs. stable is a final way to categorize hearing loss. A changing degree of impairment, fluctuating, is usually associated with conductive hearing loss.Understanding the many causes as well as the possible remedies for a hearing impairment is the best way to deal with this problem.