Dementia is more than just memory loss. It is a collection of symptoms affecting thinking, memory, language, and behaviour. A person with Dementia may have difficulty completing everyday tasks like reading, writing, expressing emotions, finding words when talking, and participating in conversations. Dementia is not a normal part of ageing. Rather, it is caused by brain disease. [...]
When a person experiences communication difficulties because of a cognitive problem, they may have a "cognitive-communication impairment". For example, a person might have an underlying memory problem which results in difficulty remembering the topic of a conversation, or difficulty remembering the steps in an instruction. These communication difficulties are caused by the memory impairment, [...]
Aphasia is caused by damage to parts of the brain responsible for language, usually due to stroke or brain injury. How severe the aphasia is relates to how much a person’s language is affected. A person with mild aphasia might have word finding difficulties, problems explaining complex information, or difficulties understanding complex information. Even though [...]
Speech pathologists play a key role in dementia management. Speech pathology intervention in dementia includes treating speech, language, communication, cognitive, and swallowing disorders that arise across the progression of the disease. This evidence-based summary of dementia interventions was written by two speech pathology students on placement with Wollongong Speech Pathology: Clarisse Baker and Sarah [...]
This is an article for any person delivering or receiving rehabilitation. If you (or someone you know) has an acquired illness or injury, speech pathology rehabilitation might be needed. It is common for clients to arrive at Wollongong Speech Pathology with some rehabilitation already under their belt. This might have been inpatient rehab, or [...]
There are hundreds of available apps for adult speech pathology. How do you know which app to choose? How can iPad apps help an adult improve their communication and swallowing skills? As a community-based, mobile speech pathology practice, we have been using iPads for years. It is astounding how helpful our iPads are. We [...]
Are you an adult who stutters? Or do you know someone who stutters? This article is for you. We are going to tell about 5 things that adults with a stutter should know. 1. Stuttering is hard to define International stuttering experts don't yet agree on a definition of stuttering. This can be potentially [...]
Wollongong Speech Pathology is gradually returning to face-to-face services! This article explains the steps we are taking to provide 'COVID safe' home visits. The same steps apply to all of our face-to-face services. We want to make sure everyone is healthy and safe, no matter where the service takes place. It is very important [...]
They say that communication is a two-way street. There are always two or more people involved in an interaction. So when communication breaks down, maybe both people need to make changes so that communication can be better? That is essentially what communication partner training is all about. In this article, I'll explain what it [...]
Aphasia is a communication disorder that often occurs after stroke or brain injury. It can cause difficulty with speaking, understanding, reading and writing. Importantly, aphasia does NOT affect intelligence. I’m not going to spend time here talking more about what aphasia is. If you want to read more about that, you can check out [...]
