Speech Therapy for Adults

What adult speech therapy is for.

If communication or swallowing has changed for you as an adult, this page explains what speech therapy addresses and how to find out what is available here. You should not have to guess at either one.

Speech-language pathologists work with adults whose communication or swallowing changed after a stroke, a brain injury, surgery, a progressive condition, or heavy demands on the voice. The work is different from pediatric therapy. A child is building a skill for the first time. An adult is usually recovering one, protecting one, or learning a reliable way around it.

The areas it usually covers.

Adult caseloads vary by setting and by clinician, but most of it falls into four groups.

• Aphasia after a stroke: finding words, following a fast conversation, reading and writing again
• Voice disorders: hoarseness, a voice that tires out by afternoon, or one that gives out entirely
• Cognitive-communication changes after a brain injury: attention, memory, and organizing what you meant to say
• Swallowing changes: coughing during meals, food that feels stuck, or working out which textures are safe

Alongside the direct work, a lot of adult therapy is practical: strategies you and your family can use at the dinner table, at work, and on the phone, so the condition takes up less of the day.

Aural rehabilitation belongs on this list too. It is the work of relearning how to listen and understand speech after a hearing change or a cochlear implant, and it matters as much as the device itself.

How to find out what is available here.

Therapy Care is a pediatric practice. The families we see day to day are children and teenagers, and that is where the schedule is built.

What is currently available for adult clients depends on caseloads and clinician schedules month to month, so we would rather you hear it from us than read a promise on a page. Call (630) 761-0900, describe what has changed, and ask what is currently available. If we are not the right place for it, we will tell you plainly and point you toward somewhere that is.