It is seen that about 800000 patients in the United States suffer from stroke every year. The stroke can lead to various issues in an individual, such as:
- Muscle Weakness
- Paralysis
- Cognitive Issues
- Decreased emotional control
- Death
There may be another problem in a stroke patient, known as speech impairment. There are various speech impairments that a stroke patient usually suffers from, which is grouped under the general term of aphasia.
As some stroke patients regain some standard speech patterns after stroke, there are various online speech therapy exercises for the patients suffering from a stroke that can help them recover faster.
What Is Stroke?
A stroke occurs when the blood cannot access a specific part of your brain. It can occur due to a blood clot which is called an Ischemic stroke, or because of a broken blood vessel which is called a Hemorrhagic stroke.
Benefits Of Speech Therapy Exercises
Speech therapy exercises are very beneficial for improving various language disorders such as aphasia. These disorders usually occur when the center of your brain becomes damaged after a specific injury such as a stroke. Speech therapy at Statesville, NC, can be beneficial in treating stroke patients.
The language center resides in the left hemisphere of the brain. Therefore aphasia is seen to be often occurring after a left hemisphere stroke or after any kind of injury in your brain. Speech therapy exercises are very beneficial for improving language skills by sparking neuroplasticity, which is the ability of the brain to repair itself. By neuroplasticity, the healthy areas of the brain can take over the language function.
Speech therapy leads to the encouragement of new brain areas for taking the function of speech and communication.
Speech Therapy Exercises
There are various speech therapy exercises for providing relief to stroke patients. Some of them are as follows:
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Breathing Exercises
– A very common symptom of aphasia and speech impairments in patients suffering from stroke is the trouble in regulating breathing at the time of speaking. It may cause the people to take a breath in the middle of the sentences and thus makes it difficult for the patients to speak at a stretch and therefore can be challenging to be understood by the listeners.
You can regulate your breathing by speaking much more quickly by doing breathing exercises for speech disorder. You also need to practice the breaths you will take while speaking.
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Tongue Strengthening Exercises
– Forming words is a common symptom of speech impairment in patients who survived a stroke. Tongue stretches and exercises can be beneficial in the strengthening of your muscles and thus makes it very easy for the patients to make a good sound for forming words. It also helps strengthen the neural pathways and the muscle memory of the patients, which they may lose after suffering from a stroke.
One example of tongue strengthening exercise is sticking your tongue in and out. You need to push out your tongue and leave it out for a few seconds. Then pull the tongue back inside. You may repeat the same thing multiple times in a day. The tongue can also be strengthened from time to time. The patients can also practice certain other things such as touching your tongue to various specific areas of the mouth as instructed to control your tongue better while speaking.
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Practicing Speech Sounds
– For aphasia patients, it is difficult to make the right sounds and use the right words. Focused practice on specific words or sounds can be an excellent exercise for stroke patients. For example, you should make the patients repeat similar types of sounds such as “Ah, ay, at, al, etc.” You must practice doing the same set many times before doing any other set.
You also need to focus on the clarity of your sound by making them understandable as much as possible and on the sound. You may also practice speaking specific words to get the sounds and movements correct.
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Naming Pictures
– As the physical formation of words is very difficult for some patients, a few patients find it difficult to form a word they may be thinking of. It would help if you tried repeating the phrase multiple times to master the pronunciation and the ways to create a word with your tongue and mouth muscles.
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Sentence Practice
– It is not an issue for stroke patients to form singular words. But many patients find it difficult to form complete sentences. So when you try to say certain words, it is also essential to try practicing or constructing sentences. It would help if you also tried speaking various sentences to make it easier to talk about a sentence clearly without any problem.
Conclusion
Speech and sentence construction don’t start or stop along with saying words. It also refers to understanding the words you may be trying to say or speak. You must practice how to tell when to take a breath and the ways to form complete sentences. Stroke patients can significantly benefit from speech therapy exercises.