Deep Red: We can use this color to talk about treatment for people living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias and for the people who care for them. Dementia Care is a very special aspect of speech therapy because we don't always deal directly with our patients. Sometimes, we deal with the people who love them most. It's my job to help the patient maintain their current level of cognition for as long as they can and then help their caregivers understand how to do similar things. 

Red/Orange: This color could symbolize cognitive-communication deficits. This is a fancy way to say all of those cognitive functions that help us communicate and live our everyday lives. These may be memory, problem-solving, organization, and reasoning. It’s important to remember that a Speech Therapist will incorporate all aspects of cognition and language to improve communication. So this may also include understanding/processing visual information because we have to read and understand what we see to communicate effectively. 

Let me give you an example from a math class. Children may be given a question that says, “Sally had five apples and lost two on her way home. How many does she have left?” It's hard to understand the question if you can’t understand what was communicated. The students may not understand that “lost” means that they were subtracted and won’t be able to answer the question. 

With a more adult focus in mind, let’s look at a few more examples. As adults, we must be able to pay attention to the person talking to us, or we won’t be able to think of and deliver a competent answer. We can even work safety into this area of speech therapy. If we’re having trouble remembering precautions given by a doctor or therapist or trouble organizing medications, these errors can significantly impact our overall health and safety.

Remember, difficulty with your thinking can happen for many reasons (head injury, heart attack, ADHD/Dyslexia, Stroke, etc), but it’s always something you should be aware of. At Sunny Side Up, I take a holistic approach to cognition and thinking because there are so many factors to consider, including medications, hydration, gut health, and mental health. These shouldn’t be reasons why you don’t seek help for cognitive issues, but they are a great reason to get an evaluation and a review of these areas. We can always work on the proper referral for you, but it’s tough to help you if we don’t know there is a problem. 

Remember, Life isn’t about suffering; it’s about thriving!

Yellow: This is the area for difficulty with chewing and swallowing. There are many reasons someone can start to have trouble with chewing, including impacts from a stroke, Bell’s Palsy, Guillain-Barre, head and neck cancer, and jaw pain/TMJ issues. Similarly, there can be many reasons for swallowing problems to develop. These may include stroke, Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s and dementia, Mystinia Graves, Multiple Sclerosis, Head and neck cancer, Sleep Apnea, and COPD. Anything that impacts the airway or your ability to breathe while you’re eating is a deficit, and that’s something we should look at. (and talk to your doctor about it!!) 

Green: I use green to represent difficulty communicating because of language deficits. These can happen after a stroke, a brain injury, or cancer treatment, to name just a few. Language is the root of our communication and is needed for talking, understanding directions, socializing, reading, and writing. Whether you need help thinking of words, forming sentences, or getting your point across, a speech therapist (like me) can help. 

Blue: While language is the root of communication, speech is the main avenue for delivery. When someone is having trouble saying words precisely or articulating well, it can shut down conversations. I’ve even seen it shut down families. These deficits tend to plague stroke survivors, brain injury survivors, and people living with Parkinson’s disease and parkinsonisms. So not only are they dealing with significant health problems, they can’t communicate with their loved ones either. The fancy words you may hear are dysarthria or apraxia. 

Purple: This is the color I would assign to other deficits, including stuttering and voice disorders. While I can work on these difficulties, I know many Speech Langauge Pathologists who specialize in these areas. 

So that’s the rundown. There are even more aspects, like articulation treatment for children and early intervention for babies and toddlers aged 0-3, but I wanted to focus more on the aspects I work on. 

Now that you’ve learned a little more about the types of difficulties I work with, I hope I’ve shown you that you are by no means the only one dealing with something tricky. I hope you reach out because I would love to help with information, resources, and therapy if needed.