The UAB Speech Clinic is located on the 2nd floor of Spain Rehabilitation Center, on 6th Avenue South between 17th and 18th Streets. It is one of two clinics in Alabama that are accredited by the Professional Standards Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Most of the patients seen here have been victims of stroke or spinal cord injury. However, the staff clinicians are equipped to provide professional treatment for a wide variety of communication disorders.
Some facts about speech disorders:
- There are more than 2.3 million cases of speech impairment reported annually in the United States.
- Articulation disorders - difficulties with the way sounds are formed and strung together - are the most common of all speech disorders.
- Each year more than 84,000 Americans develop aphasia (the loss of the ability to use speech and language) due to a stroke or head injury.
- Stroke, head injury, or disease may lead to cognitive deficits in areas such as memory, reasoning, and organization of thought processes.
- There are an estimated 1,000,000 adults living with aphasia in the United States today.
Committed to the diagnosis and therapeutic treatment of these and other communication disorders, the UAB Speech Clinic retains certified, licensed speech pathologists. A Clinical Fellowship position is open on a periodic basis. Some of the procedures routinely performed are:
- Swallowing evaluations, both fluoroscopic and clinical
- Cognitive retraining
- Speech and language therapy
- Speech valve fitting
- Augmentative communication therapy
- Voice therapy
- Fluency therapy
- Tracheostomy weaning
- Hearing screenings
Speech clinicians are actively involved on the Stroke Teams at University Hospital and Spain Rehabilitation Center, and on the Spain Rehabilitation Center Head Injury Team. They participate in a variety of patient and family education programs.