January 08, 2020 - /PressAdvantage/ - District Speech, a speech therapy clinic in Washington, DC, with website at https://www.districtspeech.com/, has stressed the importance of being aware of the potential signs of a stroke. First of all, people have to be aware of the risk factors for stroke, such as obesity, sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and recurrent consumption of alcohol and drugs. It should be noted that a stroke does not only occur in seniors but it can happen in people who are in their 20s, 30s and 40s.

The three common types of stroke are ischemic, hemorrhagic, and transient ischemic attack (TIA). In ischemic stroke, blood flow to the brain is reduced due to arteries being narrowed or blocked. In hemorrhagic stroke, blood vessels have been ruptured. In TIA, there is a temporary blockage and this is manifested by stroke symptoms for a short period of time and is a “warning” sign of another possible stroke.

Jennifer Branchini, founder of District Speech, explains, “It’s important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of a stroke so you can act FAST. Remember the acronym FAST. F is for facial weakness, A is for arm weakness, S is for slurred speech, and T is for timely response. The sooner you’re able to receive care for your stroke, the better your long term outcomes are predicted to be.”

A common effect of a stroke is speech impairment, which is generally termed as aphasia. While some stroke patients are ultimately able to get back their normal speech patterns, there are speech therapy exercises that can help with their recovery.

Meanwhile, District Speech provides comprehensive speech/language evaluations. They also offer private therapy services to adults for various conditions. These include accent reduction, apraxia, aphasia, auditory processing disorder, articulation and phonological disorder, cleft lip/palate, autism spectrum disorder, cognitive communication deficits, dysfluency or stuttering, developmental speech/language delay, dyslexia and reading related disorders, dysphagia, receptive/expressive language disorder, oral motor deficits, tongue thrust, social communication disorder, written language disorder, voice impairments, and traumatic brain injury. More information about District Speech services can be gleaned on their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/districtspeech.

District Speech also offers other services, such as autism screenings, cleft lip and palate speech evaluation, orofacial myofunctional disorders, and accent modification. The autism screenings provided make use of the Developmental Assessment of Young Children – Second Edition (DAYC-2). DAYC-2 is a popular test that is helpful in determining those children from birth through 5-11 with possible delays in communication, cognition, physical development, social-emotional development, and adaptive behavior. The DAYC-2 format allows examiners to get relevant information regarding a child’s abilities through interview with caregivers, observation, and direct assessment.

A specialty service from District Speech is perceptual speech evaluation for cleft palate. Children with cleft palate usually suffer from velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD), which may be the result of structural defects, neurological/physiological disorders, and development of atypical articulatory placements and error patterns. A cleft palate is one of the most common causes of VPD. The perceptual speech evaluation performed by District Speech involves a number of components. These include resonance and airflow/pressure evaluation; articulation evaluation; oral mechanism examination; and speech and language evaluation.

District Speech also offers comprehensive reading evaluation to be used as basis for proper instruction and relevant interventions for children with reading impairments. The reading evaluation process includes tests for: alphabet, word identification, spelling, word attack, fluency, and passage comprehension. The receptive language component of the reading evaluation process includes tests for measuring listening comprehension and vocabulary. Also, deficiencies in phonological processing skills are evaluated using tests for phonological/phonemic awareness, phonological memory, and rapid naming.

Another condition that is evaluated at District Speech is orofacial myofunction disorder, which is a condition where the tongue moves forward too much when the patient talks and/or swallows. The tongue may move too far forward during rest or it may protrude between the upper and lower teeth when swallowing or during speech.

Those who are interested in the speech therapy services provided by District Speech can visit their website or their social media pages like their Pinterest page at https://www.pinterest.com/districtspeecha/.

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For more information about District Speech, contact the company here:

District Speech
Jennifer Branchini
202-417-6576
[email protected]
1331 H st NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC, 20005

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