Terry Streetmen (Host): Welcome back to the Well Within Reach podcast. I'm Terry Streetmen from marketing. And our guest today is Camille Joly, Riverside Speech Language Pathologist, and we're going to talk about speech therapy.

Thanks for joining us, Camille.

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Thank you for having me.

Host: So before we get started, we're going to take a quick minute to hear about Riverside MyChart.

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Host: Okay, we're back. I believe this is your first time here with us on the podcast. Could you tell us about your background and your role here?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Sure. Yeah, it is my first time and I've been an SLP, so Speech Therapist, for about four years now. Right now I'm working in the outpatient therapy at the Atrium, but I also do go inpatient or hospital at Riverside whenever they kind of need me.

My background, I did my undergrad at Northern Illinois University and I got my master's at Faulkner, small school in Alabama. I speak three languages fluently, so English, Polish, and Spanish, and then some of kind of my like background work. I've worked in outpatient with adults, with pediatrics, skilled nursing facilities, so like the nursing homes, acute care, and also elementary schools.

Host: Wow, okay, well that's pretty great, and three languages. That's impressive.

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Thank you.

Host: So, you talked about this, your education. What is it that drew you then to speech therapy as like an area of practice?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Sure. So actually when I was an undergrad, I initially went in to be a physical therapist.

I did like a summer kind of volunteer rotation sort of thing. And I was with a physical therapist at a nursing home and to be honest, I didn't really like it. And then the office next door was a speech therapist and they actually need a translation in Polish. So I translated for that speech therapist at that time and I was like, do you mind if I kind of stick around and see what you're doing?

And she was all for it and I, you know, that next semester I kind of enrolled and changed my career path.

Host: Wow. Well, that's great. I'm glad you were there at that time. That's timing worked out well.

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Absolutely.

Host: So here at Riverside then, how many other therapists are in your department and what would you say like makes your clinic special?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: So I'm currently at the outpatient side at Atrium. It's me and one other speech therapist. We also have a lot of physical therapists, PTAs, which are the physical therapy assistants and occupational therapists. One kind of thing that kind of stuck out to me working at the outpatient side at the Atrium is if we share a mutual patient, we kind of all connect and figure out a plan that works best for them according to which one of our, like, kind of expertise, so speech side, occupational side, and physical side and we kind of bounce ideas back and forth. So it's really nice in that way.

Host: Yeah, that's cool to have that sort of collaboration. I'm sure then better outcomes for the patients as well.

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Absolutely.

Host: All right. So for people who might not know, you know, can we start at a basic level of an explanation of what speech therapy is and some of the reasons that folks might seek it out?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Sure. So obviously it kind of goes with our name. So the speech side of things, right? So, you know, your verbal expression, right? So how well basically you can speak or talk, communicate. We do a lot of swallowing. So, dysphagia is kind of the fancier, nicer term to that. Receptive and expressive language. So what you can understand and then your ability for others to understand you as well. Lots of cognition. So a lot of times we pair up with like neurology side of things. So, you know, your memory, your problem solving, executive function attention, concentration, that sort of thing. Also voice. A lot of times we pair up also with your ENT providers.

So if you're hoarse or you're coughing a lot or you keep clearing your throat, we try to figure out how can we make that better. Those that kind of, you know, sustained a stroke or a traumatic brain injury or just got diagnosed with Parkinson's. Also, you know, your everyday things. So how well can you manage those medications, your bill paying, can you drive a car functionally and safely on the road, that sort of thing. Yeah.

Host: Okay. So there's a lot more there than I think I realized. And I feel like I've done some research here, but. That's amazing. Okay. Well, as we get into some of those things that you can help with, I think, I would say I for sure, and I think other people sometimes think of speech therapy as, when you're a kid and you're in school and you've got some sort of speech communication. That's what speech therapy is. But so can you talk about some of that just to get us started in maybe more familiar ground?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Sure. So, like going way back in the seventies and eighties, kind of when you know, our field kind of boomed, it was very like helping those kids in school say their S's and their R's and, you know, you have those kids who stutter, right? So we got to figure out ways to kind of help those kiddos, but it really kind of took off from then. Cause then our speech therapy took out not only articulation and then kids who stutter, but then let's look at do they have any other things, like for example, those kiddos diagnosed with autism and quote unquote, those higher functioning autism, you know, they might be, their language might be fine.

We may understand them, but you know, they may have those social skills that are kind of lacking. So we can help in those sense, you know, and sometimes we may not have a voice, but can we figure out a voice for that person who needs to communicate a different way? So for example, like on AAC device, so it looks kind of like you're good old fashioned iPad or tablet and, they press different buttons and icons to kind of help speak for them.

Host: Okay.

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Um, lots of feeding and swallowing in kiddos. So, you got your premature babies or your kids with cerebral palsy or, you know, a structural issue like cleft palate, that kind of thing. And then a lot of kiddos also have voice difficulties as well. Sometimes they have something called either hypo or hypernasality. So, sometimes there are sounds that are supposed to be coming out of their nose don't. And vice versa. So we kind of help with that as far as the kid side goes to speech therapy.

Host: Okay, awesome. Yeah, and get that early start and sort of work on some of these things. So then for folks who maybe didn't receive this kind of assistance or who have other issues that come up later in life, you've touched on some of the other things that y'all can do with speech therapy, but what are some things that you can do to help adults?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: So a lot of the times with adults, our main thing kind of is you know, you get your strokes and, your communication problems that may follow after that, but it's not only that, it's a lot of cognitive side to it. So, can you safely, you know, like I said earlier, drive that car, manage your medication, your bills, how well can we sustain attention to a task?

But let's, ramp it up a little bit. Can we divide our attention out? Can you do, a higher cognitive level task while you're also talking to me and have external stimuli happening in the background? How is our reasoning and critical thinking skills along with adults?

Can we swallow a pill like we used to when we were 30? If not, why all of a sudden did we wake up one morning and something's going on, so let's get to the root of that. One day we wake up and we keep coughing and we blame it on, allergies and post nasal drip, but if it keeps happening, something's going on with those vocal cords, you know? So we try to figure out a way to get you back to that voice. And then, communication problems. So, you know, it could happen after a stroke, but it could just happen, age is a beautiful thing, but everything kind of slows down as we age, unfortunately. So, what are some ways that we can communicate, not just with words?

Terry Streetmen (Host): Okay. Yeah. And, one thing that comes to mind there is I know you talked about some of the ways that you collaborate with, neuro and some of those other things and the behavioral stuff, the attention and that kind of stuff as a early diagnosed ADHD kid. Do you work then collaboratively with like behavioral health and some of those folks too?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Yeah, sometimes it depends to what level, that is to that degree. Was it something to do with like ADHD, those co-factors, how early was it diagnosed? It kind of just depends.

Host: Okay. So, we talked about some of these. What do you find to be the most surprising thing when you talk to people about what you work on that people might not expect?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Sure. So, I tell this every time they come in, they're like, well, I speak fine. Why am I here for speech therapy, you know? So I always say if I had a dollar for every time someone would say that, I would not be working anymore. But definitely the cognitive and the swallow side of things. So people just think speech, you know, the verbal part, but we always kind of, you know, say that we treat anything from lungs and up, so, cognitive side, lots of like, cognition. So are we able to remember things how we could at 80, how we did when we were 40, and so on, you know? things change once you retire and you're not as active anymore.

Host: Okay. Well, I think you mentioned in your intro, and I, find this really interesting, you know, here in our community, we have a lot of Spanish language speakers. You obviously, Spanish, Polish, and English. How does bilingualism or trilingualism, in your case, factor into this kind of therapy?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: So, I just kind of take it from my own example because my parents, I grew up with them not speaking English until way later. So, if you put an example, if you, you know, sustained a stroke, the next day you lost all of your independence, right?

So not only did you lose your independence, but now you have a doctor, you know, someone that you just met telling you X, Y, and Z how your quote unquote new life is going to be with this stroke. So not only do you not understand English, but now you don't understand what's going on with you. So that's when you could bring in, like my background of knowing Spanish and Polish and saying, Hey, It's not going to be a forever thing, but we'll get through it with speech therapy and any other kind of therapy you might need.

Host: Okay. So yeah, just that level of comfort and understanding that, that's a scary time. That's not

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Absolutely.

Host: Okay. All right. So before we get to our next question, we're going to take a quick break to talk about the importance of primary care.

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Okay, so we're back from that message. You touched on this earlier, and I just recently learned about voice therapy. Can you talk a little bit more about voice therapy? That, because I think people aren't really familiar with that.

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Sure. So voice therapy kind of can range anything from a person, you know, like I stated before, who wakes up one day and they lost their voice and they're now horse, or they have a chronic coughing or like something we kind of do from habit forming is throat clearing to think it's going to help.

But eventually after a few seconds, you're going to have to clear your throat again and again, you know, and believe it or not, you're going to do more damage to those vocal cords than good. Also something newer in our field is, a person transitioning from one gender to another. So matching their voice to go on with their new identity; kind of that vocal training, whether they're transitioning from man to female or vice versa. Also if you're intubated at a hospital and then now you're extubated. So, you know, your voice is going to have a little damage, a little tweaking needs to be done. So, a lot of it is just going to be kind of not only training the actual voice, but kind of the mindset as well.

Host: Well, that's awesome. That's a lot of things that I think a lot of people need like I said, probably aren't aware that is available through this kind of therapy. So, if somebody is experiencing some challenges or thinks they're seeing it in themselves or their child, what should they be looking out for to indicate, like, that there's a need for this kind of therapy?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: As far as, like voice therapy goes, definitely, like, if you let's just say, you know, any kind of radiation or chemo is done, like, for example, with like throat cancer, definitely that there's going to be some kind of benefit to that. So, any kind of chronic hoarseness, throat clearing, any kind of pain or kind of that feeling stuck in your throat, overall weakness in voice and it like gradually getting weaker, something's going on and we definitely kind of got to get to the root of that and hopefully, turn it back around unless it gets better. Um, so definitely that's when you would reach out to your primary care providers to kind of get a referral in.

Host: Okay. And that, would that be, in general too, I think we talked earlier about like children who need speech therapy and that kind of stuff. Like, is that something that the schools are helping to sort of flag and say, hey, we're noticing this sort of issue or delay or, challenge, or is that, like, I guess at what point should parents be looking for that or should schools be looking for that to say like, Hey, there's something here that we need help with.

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Sure. So I remember personally when I was working in schools a lot of the times it's the kindergarten teachers that are kind of sending in those referrals, because they work alongside with those speech therapists that are in schools that hey, we see this child that's kind of not identifying those key language, developmental milestones, so maybe something like easy as not knowing their name, simple one step directions. Do they understand, like, spatial concepts?

Like, up, down, around, like, those little things. So then, we can always screen them, and then if we feel like they need a benefit from it more than that, we would do the full on assessment in schools.

Host: Okay. I'll kind of jump here. You talked about, you know, those referrals from the schools or like calling the ENT. Is that how folks would get in? Do they need a referral? Can they call directly? How does that work?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: So as far as the outpatient side here at Riverside, at Atrium a lot of times, depending on kind of what it is, most of the times the referrals that we do have coming in are from the primary care providers.

Host: Okay.

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: The neurologists we have here at Riverside or your ENTs.

Host: Okay. So, if folks are dealing with this, speech or communication challenges or swallowing or any of these things that we've talked about, are there resources that you would recommend for those folks in addition to this kind of therapy?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: Sure. Definitely what I say is kind of check out ASHA. So that's A-S-H-A. That's kind of our accrediting board within the speech therapists in the United States. They give kind of really good evidence based practice things that work. If you need further information, you know, whether it's dementia or Parkinson's, things like that.

If not there, the nice thing with technologies these days is there are really good cognitive and communication apps that can be downloaded in the hands of your phone tablet. Like there's things called language tactics, therapy apps, or Lumosity that help with different cognitive side of things.

Host: Yeah, well it's good to have those resources in addition to the therapy and care that you can provide here. So we're getting towards the end here, and I was wondering, if there's one takeaway that you would have folks take away from this episode what would you say that is?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: So, I always say that if I could change my title, I definitely would. I love what I do. The title is kind of, hard because people always just think speech therapy, I speak fine, and they brush it off to the side. But, give us a chance. We truly work with each individual based on what they need. And we look so much more past what that medical diagnosis is. And we always say, it won't make it worse, right? And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. But I truly always say you can be surprised how much you learn, how much you'll progress over the course of the whole therapy session.

Host: Awesome. Well, yeah, I think that's really helpful. And like I said, even for me, being here and having some experience and research with this, there's so much more to it than I realized. So, I guess before we wrap up, are there any other things that you want to add for the listeners?

Camille Joly, M.S., CCC-SLP: One kind of thing me and my other speech therapist co worker kind of said is we don't just give you something to do for the 45 minutes in the course of the session. We honestly give you tools. You can learn how to carry over all those cognitive communication skills you just gained in therapy to use at home and to kind of put forward after you kind of graduate, so on, speech therapy.

Host: Yeah. Well, it's great to fill up that toolbox and help people sort of strengthen those skills and habits and things that'll help advance what they just went through all that treatment for. Okay. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. For our listeners who may be interested in learning more about Riverside Speech Language Pathology Services and all of the different services that we just talked about that are sort of contained within that, you can call Riverside Rehabilitation Services at 815-935-7496 or you can visit myrhc.net/rehabilitation. So thanks again for joining us, Camille. We appreciate you being here. Thank you all for tuning in to Well Within Reach presented by Riverside Healthcare. If you could take a moment to rate and leave a review for Well Within Reach on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, that'd be great.

And if you'd like to learn more about Riverside, you can visit riversidehealthcare.org.