Speech Therapy at Home: What Home Healthcare SLPs Do

If you're having difficulty communicating, home healthcare speech therapy may be able to help. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who work for home healthcare agencies can provide individualized speech therapy right in your own home.

Home healthcare SLPs first perform an evaluation to determine the cause of your speech, language or swallowing difficulties. They assess things like articulation, fluency, voice, comprehension, expression and more.

Based on the evaluation, your SLP will create a customized treatment plan to address your specific needs and goals. Therapy may include:

•Articulation therapy to improve pronunciation of sounds and words

•Fluency therapy for conditions like stuttering

•Voice therapy for hoarseness, pitch issues or other voice disorders

•Aphasia therapy to regain or relearn language skills after a stroke or head injury

•Swallowing therapy for dysphagia to improve eating and drinking ability

•Cognitive-linguistic therapy to improve memory, attention and problem-solving

Your home healthcare SLP will provide hands-on exercises and techniques to improve your communication skills. They will educate you and your caregivers to continue therapy between sessions. The SLP will also monitor your progress and adjust the treatment plan as needed.

Home healthcare SLPs have experience treating a wide range of conditions, from developmental delays in children to speech difficulties due to aging, stroke and neurological disorders.

The goal of home speech therapy is to help you regain as much independence and quality of life as possible. Your SLP will work closely with you, your caregivers and other members of your care team.

So if getting to an outpatient clinic is difficult for you, ask your doctor about a referral for home speech therapy. With the right plan in place and an experienced home healthcare SLP on your team, you'll be on your way to overcoming your communication challenges right in the comfort of your own home.