Speech-language pathologists, sometimes called speech therapists, assess, diagnose, treat and help to prevent communication and swallowing disorders in patients.
In this segment, Jaclyn Ceroy M.S. CCC/SLP shares the services a speech-language pathologist provides and how at Meritus Health, speech pathologists work closely with patients and families to develop a personalized treatment plan to facilitate recovery and help patients improve or regain speaking ability.
Selected Podcast
Services a Speech-Language Pathologist Provide
Featured Speaker:
Jaclyn Ceroy, MS
Ms. Ceroy earned her bachelor’s degree in speech-language pathology from Harding University and her master’s degree in speech-language pathology from Radford University. She holds a certificate of clinical competence through the American Speech-Language Hearing Association. Ms. Ceroy has worked with both children and adults in a variety of settings including the school system, long-term care facilities and currently the out-patient setting. She currently works with adolescents and adults with a variety of impairments including strokes, TBIs, neurological disorders including Parkinson’s disease, swallowing disorders and voice disorders. She is VitalStim certified and has completed specialized training in the area of AAC. Transcription:
Services a Speech-Language Pathologist Provide
Melanie Cole (Host): Speech language pathologists, sometimes called “speech therapists”, assess, diagnose, treat and help to prevent communication and swallowing disorders in patients. They work closely with patients and families to develop a personalized treatment plan to facilitate recovery and help patients improve or regain speaking ability. My guest today is Jaclyn Ceroy. She's a speech and language pathologist at Meritus Health. Welcome to the show, Jaclyn. So, people don't really understand necessarily what a speech therapist really does. So, take us through what you do with patients and you can start with little guys and go to the elderly--give us a rundown on what your job actually entails?
Jaclyn Ceroy (Guest): I can definitely do that. Thanks, by the way, for having me. We serve patients from birth to the elderly. With the little ones we work a lot with kids who aren't talking. By about age of one, we should be seeing some words typically with kids. If we're not seeing that, then we start to get a little concerned. Of course, everybody develops at a different rate and everything but if kids aren't getting words by one, then we will typically have them come in and for a couple months to work with us. We can encourage communications. We work a lot with kids like who may have developmental delays and are behind. We work with a lot of kids with different genetic diseases such as Down syndrome, intellectual disability, autism, etc. We see a lot of patients with autism because typically from a young age, they're developmentally behind. Then, we also work, actually, with a lot of patients as well with hearing loss and cochlear implants and things like that because if you're not hearing correctly, then it's going to be hard to produce sounds and words correctly. We also work with a lot of adult patients as well, patients with strokes, brain injuries, dementia, Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinson's disease. We work with a variety of different patients.
Melanie: Let's start with little guys, Jaclyn. So, what is considered normal in typical speech and language development? When should parents be concerned and you can just give us some red flags for parents when they might require early intervention and need to contact someone?
Jaclyn: Like I was saying a little bit earlier, typically, a little before age one or around one we should be seeing some words. For example even things like “Momma” and “Dadda”. We should be seeing them connect different things in their environment, too, and things like that. So, if at about that age, if they're not releasing anything or if you are not even hearing babbling or anything like that, then that is definitely a red flag and that is something you want to get checked out. But, on the flip side if they don't seem to be understanding. So, if you're saying, "Go get your toy", and things like that and it's just like they're just not understanding what you're saying, that's another red flag that something is going on with their language processing.
Melanie: So, then, you might work with the family and help them showing them some exercises. Speak a little bit about how you work with kids just kids in general because kids are a little bit difficult sometimes to work with so you have to involve play or something a little bit more fun. Speak about how you work with kids.
Jaclyn: The big push is for us to use things that are in the child's environment which I think is great because if we're using toys and things like that which they already have, they're going to be motivated by it and want to play with these things. What an early intervention speech therapist will do is they will come in and they'll just get out toys and they will play but we will require the kid to request somehow that they want that toy. So, instead of just letting them play with that, at the very beginning we may let them play with it for a couple minutes but then we are going to take it away. For example, a lot of kids they don't want to say, they don't want to ask, "Can I have that, please?" So, with a lot of those kids, we actually would use sign language. We would use sign for “please”, sign for more--anything like that just to make sure that they're somehow communicating because it's so important. For those kids who don't seem to be understanding language and understanding directions and things like that, a lot of times what we do is look at pictures and we will have them point to different animals and make animal sounds and things like that and we may even take their hand if they don't seem to be understanding and point to the dog, to the cat, and things like that just to provide a rich language environment because we want to encourage them to grow in that area.
Melanie: Now on to some older people, and as you mentioned, Alzheimer’s or dementia or Lou Gehrig's or stroke--there are so many instances when people might develop speech and language disorders because of various illnesses. So, speak about how you help that population with some of these things?
Jaclyn: So, especially in my current job right now, I see a lot of patients with brain injuries like traumatic brain injuries and stroke, and so, they are patients who had their language and they were able to speak and understand things like that and then they had this event and, all of a sudden, they couldn't. So, we, again, are trying to find a way to help them communicate, so we do a lot of activities like we would do following direction activity and things like that. We try to make it very practical. For example, with some of my patients, if they've had a stroke and that area of their brain is affected that affects their understanding and ability to follow directions, we may make something because we can follow a recipe or remember to turn the stove on to preheat it, turn it off and things like that. So, if they're having trouble saying words, we do a lot of naming pictures and my role is to help them and give those hints, things which kind of help them when they are stuck and can't get the words out. For some patients, it's difficult for them to ever talk and sometimes they just get words out but they're not understandable and things like that, so we can even work on things sound correctly or providing them with AAC which is “Alternative and Augmentative Communication”. So, using pictures to communicate or a book with words or things like that because our ultimate goal is to help them to communicate, for them to be able to say what is important, what they mean and why.
Melanie: So, wrap it up for us with speech therapy and what you want people to know about this field, Jaclyn, and the importance of visiting a speech therapist if you feel that you have some concerns and just really give a rundown of what you do is so important and people don't even really realize.
Jaclyn: First off, it's important if you are concerned about anything, if you have a child who seems to be behind, they are behind or you have a family member or you yourself are noticing problems with talking, memory and things like that, I think it's important to get in early because you want to start and get better as quickly as possible. I think that our role is to help speed up that process. The brain grows and repairs itself by itself but we are so important in helping speed that process along and we can work on strategies and tips to help trigger those areas of the brain and to get you talking because. That’s basically the big role that we have.
Melanie: Thank you so much for such great information, Jaclyn. Thank you for being with us today. You're listening to Your Health Matters with Meritus Health. For more information you can go to meritushealth.com. That's meristushealth.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Services a Speech-Language Pathologist Provide
Melanie Cole (Host): Speech language pathologists, sometimes called “speech therapists”, assess, diagnose, treat and help to prevent communication and swallowing disorders in patients. They work closely with patients and families to develop a personalized treatment plan to facilitate recovery and help patients improve or regain speaking ability. My guest today is Jaclyn Ceroy. She's a speech and language pathologist at Meritus Health. Welcome to the show, Jaclyn. So, people don't really understand necessarily what a speech therapist really does. So, take us through what you do with patients and you can start with little guys and go to the elderly--give us a rundown on what your job actually entails?
Jaclyn Ceroy (Guest): I can definitely do that. Thanks, by the way, for having me. We serve patients from birth to the elderly. With the little ones we work a lot with kids who aren't talking. By about age of one, we should be seeing some words typically with kids. If we're not seeing that, then we start to get a little concerned. Of course, everybody develops at a different rate and everything but if kids aren't getting words by one, then we will typically have them come in and for a couple months to work with us. We can encourage communications. We work a lot with kids like who may have developmental delays and are behind. We work with a lot of kids with different genetic diseases such as Down syndrome, intellectual disability, autism, etc. We see a lot of patients with autism because typically from a young age, they're developmentally behind. Then, we also work, actually, with a lot of patients as well with hearing loss and cochlear implants and things like that because if you're not hearing correctly, then it's going to be hard to produce sounds and words correctly. We also work with a lot of adult patients as well, patients with strokes, brain injuries, dementia, Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinson's disease. We work with a variety of different patients.
Melanie: Let's start with little guys, Jaclyn. So, what is considered normal in typical speech and language development? When should parents be concerned and you can just give us some red flags for parents when they might require early intervention and need to contact someone?
Jaclyn: Like I was saying a little bit earlier, typically, a little before age one or around one we should be seeing some words. For example even things like “Momma” and “Dadda”. We should be seeing them connect different things in their environment, too, and things like that. So, if at about that age, if they're not releasing anything or if you are not even hearing babbling or anything like that, then that is definitely a red flag and that is something you want to get checked out. But, on the flip side if they don't seem to be understanding. So, if you're saying, "Go get your toy", and things like that and it's just like they're just not understanding what you're saying, that's another red flag that something is going on with their language processing.
Melanie: So, then, you might work with the family and help them showing them some exercises. Speak a little bit about how you work with kids just kids in general because kids are a little bit difficult sometimes to work with so you have to involve play or something a little bit more fun. Speak about how you work with kids.
Jaclyn: The big push is for us to use things that are in the child's environment which I think is great because if we're using toys and things like that which they already have, they're going to be motivated by it and want to play with these things. What an early intervention speech therapist will do is they will come in and they'll just get out toys and they will play but we will require the kid to request somehow that they want that toy. So, instead of just letting them play with that, at the very beginning we may let them play with it for a couple minutes but then we are going to take it away. For example, a lot of kids they don't want to say, they don't want to ask, "Can I have that, please?" So, with a lot of those kids, we actually would use sign language. We would use sign for “please”, sign for more--anything like that just to make sure that they're somehow communicating because it's so important. For those kids who don't seem to be understanding language and understanding directions and things like that, a lot of times what we do is look at pictures and we will have them point to different animals and make animal sounds and things like that and we may even take their hand if they don't seem to be understanding and point to the dog, to the cat, and things like that just to provide a rich language environment because we want to encourage them to grow in that area.
Melanie: Now on to some older people, and as you mentioned, Alzheimer’s or dementia or Lou Gehrig's or stroke--there are so many instances when people might develop speech and language disorders because of various illnesses. So, speak about how you help that population with some of these things?
Jaclyn: So, especially in my current job right now, I see a lot of patients with brain injuries like traumatic brain injuries and stroke, and so, they are patients who had their language and they were able to speak and understand things like that and then they had this event and, all of a sudden, they couldn't. So, we, again, are trying to find a way to help them communicate, so we do a lot of activities like we would do following direction activity and things like that. We try to make it very practical. For example, with some of my patients, if they've had a stroke and that area of their brain is affected that affects their understanding and ability to follow directions, we may make something because we can follow a recipe or remember to turn the stove on to preheat it, turn it off and things like that. So, if they're having trouble saying words, we do a lot of naming pictures and my role is to help them and give those hints, things which kind of help them when they are stuck and can't get the words out. For some patients, it's difficult for them to ever talk and sometimes they just get words out but they're not understandable and things like that, so we can even work on things sound correctly or providing them with AAC which is “Alternative and Augmentative Communication”. So, using pictures to communicate or a book with words or things like that because our ultimate goal is to help them to communicate, for them to be able to say what is important, what they mean and why.
Melanie: So, wrap it up for us with speech therapy and what you want people to know about this field, Jaclyn, and the importance of visiting a speech therapist if you feel that you have some concerns and just really give a rundown of what you do is so important and people don't even really realize.
Jaclyn: First off, it's important if you are concerned about anything, if you have a child who seems to be behind, they are behind or you have a family member or you yourself are noticing problems with talking, memory and things like that, I think it's important to get in early because you want to start and get better as quickly as possible. I think that our role is to help speed up that process. The brain grows and repairs itself by itself but we are so important in helping speed that process along and we can work on strategies and tips to help trigger those areas of the brain and to get you talking because. That’s basically the big role that we have.
Melanie: Thank you so much for such great information, Jaclyn. Thank you for being with us today. You're listening to Your Health Matters with Meritus Health. For more information you can go to meritushealth.com. That's meristushealth.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.