Communication is essential and it becomes more important as we age. The reason for this is that your older loved ones have many concerns and if they find it hard to express them, it can be devastating. Furthermore, they need to socialize and communicate with others so that they can stay active.
Hence the need for speech therapy as one of the dementia activities. The following are some of the ways speech therapy can help your loved ones.
Improved Communications
While aging, a lot of things begin to happen and one of them includes vocal cords having less elasticity. The larynx becomes weaker and this will affect how your loved ones can communicate. It becomes relatively difficult for them to communicate as they should.
However, there are a couple of dementia activities available to help your loved ones strengthen their vocal cords. These might not necessarily solve the elasticity issues however their communication will be improved.
Memory Loss Treatment
Asides from struggling with communication, speech therapy can also help with memory care. There are times when your loved ones might communicate normally but need help remembering things. Dementia activities take care of the aspect of the brain responsible for communication and other cognitive activities such as attention and solving problems.
On the other hand, even when there is no problem with speech, socializing will become difficult when there is little or nothing to remember. Speech therapy activities ensure your loved ones do not have to go through this discomfort.
Treats Stroke-Related Disorders
If your loved ones have had issues with stroke in the past, it is recommended that they engage in speech therapy. Stroke can cause two disorders, which are aphasia and apraxia.
Almost half of stroke survivors experience aphasia; it includes difficulty in expressing thoughts using the right words while apraxia patients experience difficulty in moving their lips to properly pronounce words.
Speech therapy is recommended to solve both after-stroke issues. There are dementia activities that will increase their concentration to ensure they can say the right words. On the other hand, activities such as sound repetition will help your loved ones with proper pronunciation.
Note: You don’t have to wait till your loved ones start experiencing these. Once they are through with stroke treatment, they should begin speech therapy instantly to avoid these difficulties.
Improved Overall Health Condition
Speech therapy dementia activities are not limited to correcting certain conditions. Your loved ones will also benefit in other aspects as they work on their communication. For example, working on their communication skills ensures they are mentally and socially engaged.
There is a need to understand that having issues with communication will not only limit your loved ones from expressing their pain, discomfort, and concerns. It leaves them in isolation, and this exposes them to other severe health conditions. However, speech therapy dementia activities will help prevent these from happening.
Conclusion
Do you have a loved one in need of speech therapy dementia activities to help improve their communication skills? Then you are in the right place, our memory care community offers the best dementia services to help your loved ones overcome any speech difficulty.