Speech Therapy

UT Southwestern Medical Center has highly trained speech-language pathologists in multidisciplinary teams who treat a wide variety of speech, voice, swallowing, and neurological conditions.

Speech therapy is offered by our Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and our Voice Center.

Specialized Speech-Language Services for Voice, Speech, and Swallowing

Speech-language therapy includes a wide range of services that speech-language pathologists use to diagnose and treat conditions and injuries that affect communications, voice, cognition, and swallowing capabilities.

Speech-language pathologists in our Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation department:

• Offer exercises and individualized therapy to improve communication, cognition, and swallowing
• Work with adults to improve their ability to communicate and function in daily life
• Provide specialized services for adults who have experienced a traumatic event, such as a traumatic brain injury, concussion, and/or stroke. We also work with people who have been diagnosed with progressive disorders to provide therapy and education to help maintain function of communication and swallowing throughout their life.

Speech-language pathologists in our Voice Center:

• Offer exercises and other nonsurgical therapies to improve the speaking and singing voice, as well as swallowing and breathing abilities
• Work with children and adults to improve their ability to communicate with their voice
• Provide specialized services for singers, performers, and others whose careers involve heavy voice use to help them optimize their voices. We also work with people who have undergone surgery or other procedures to treat head and neck conditions, helping them restore a strong voice.

Conditions We Treat

We have extensive experience in evaluating, diagnosing, and treating people with communication, cognition, voice, swallowing, and related conditions and injuries.

Depending on the specific condition, speech-language therapy can be the first-line treatment, or it might occur after a referral from a visit with a specialist who determines speech-language therapy is needed.

Our speech-language pathologists treat conditions and injuries such as:

Neurological Disorders

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Aphasia
• Apraxia of speech
• Cognitive-communication disorders
• Cognitive impairments
• Dementia
• Dysarthria (slurred speech or changes in breathing patterns, which affect the ability to produce sounds)
• Dysphagia
• Executive dysfunction (thought organization, sequencing, problem-solving skills)
• Fluency disorders (stuttering, cluttering)
• Functional neurological disorders
• Long COVID/post-acute sequelae of COVID-19
• Memory loss
• Neurogenic stuttering
• Parkinson’s disease/Parkinsonisms (hypophonia)
• Post-concussion syndrome
• Progressive and neurological disorders
• Stroke
• Traumatic brain injury

Voice problems

• Aging voice
• Functional aphonia
• Hoarseness
• Muscle tension dysphonia
• Pain with voice use (odynophonia)
• Spasmodic dysphonia, also known as laryngeal dysphonia
• Speech impairments, especially those related to head and neck cancer
• Vocal cord scars
• Vocal fold paralysis
• Vocal tremor
• Voice restoration after total laryngectomy

Airway problems

• Chronic cough
• Vocal cord dysfunction or paradoxical vocal cord motion
• Vocal cord paralysis

Swallowing problems

• Aspiration
• Swallowing disorders (dysphagia)

Speech-Language Services and Treatments We Offer

When patients come to UT Southwestern, our speech-language pathologists begin with a comprehensive evaluation. We use interviews, observation, and standardized assessments, as well as the latest technology, to help guide treatment planning.

Our speech-language pathologists often partner with other specialists throughout our system to provide seamless care. Depending on each patient’s individual needs, we work with:

• Counselors
• Gastroenterologists (digestive tract specialists)
• General practitioners
• Neurologists (brain and nervous system specialists)
• Neuropsychologists
• Otolaryngologists
• Pulmonologists (lung specialists)

Our speech-language interventions focus on areas such as:

• Attention process training: Helps people with brain injuries learn to focus
• Augmentative/alternative communication devices (such as a tablet or laptop): Used for evaluation and training of people with speech or language impairments
• Cognitive therapy: Addresses problem-solving skills, logic, reasoning, thought organization, and sequencing as needed for complex activities of daily living
• Laryngectomy: Fitting with the appropriate tracheo-esophageal prosthesis; training in the use of an electrolarynx; and esophageal speech training
• Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD): For Parkinson’s patients, this treatment is focused on improving speech and voice
• McNeill Dysphagia Therapy Program: Helps patients with dysphagia improve swallowing through an exercise program
• Professional voice: Well visits for singers, performers, and other voice professionals; exercises to reduce voice strain and improve projection and stamina
• SpeakOut!®: A speech therapy approach for individuals with Parkinson's. The program helps patients regain and maintain their speaking abilities. Learn more about SpeakOut.
• Speech: Exercises to improve speech production, quality, and clarity, especially in patients with a history of head and neck cancer
• Swallowing: Exercises to increase strength in the tongue and throat muscles and in therapy with VitalStim® (e-stim)
• VitalStim Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation (NMES): Improves swallowing in patients with dysphagia through electrical stimulation
• Voice: Exercises to optimize vocal production; behavioral modification techniques to enhance voice use; and education on how to care for the voice