Speech Therapy
A speech, swallowing or voice problem can disrupt your daily life and prevent you from getting through to the people around you. This can take a toll on your well-being. At Columbia Memorial Hospital, we understand. Our caring staff is here to help.
We provide comprehensive speech-language pathology services to both children and adults.
When you need a speech pathology specialist
CMH's licensed speech therapists are experts in the mechanics of speech and language, along with feeding and swallowing. We evaluate and treat a wide range of speech, language, cognitive, voice, swallowing and oral-motor disorders, including:
- Trouble communicating and thinking clearly after a stroke or brain injury.
- Stuttering, speech impediments and other speech problems.
- Voice problems due to conditions like Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.
- Trouble finding the right words or cognitive changes resulting from a concussion or other traumatic brain injury.
Reviewed 2/8/2023
Speech therapy quiz
True or false?
Speech-language pathologists treat a wide variety of communication and swallowing problems. How much do you know about the many types of disorders speech therapy can address?
Start the quiz
True or false: Speech-language pathologists work only in outpatient settings.
FALSE. Speech-language pathologists work in many settings. You might find them in grade schools, colleges and universities, private practices, rehabilitation centers, and hospitals.
True or false: Speech therapy is mainly helpful for children.
FALSE. Speech-language pathologists work with people of all ages to treat many types of communication and swallowing problems, including:
- Stuttering.
- Learning disabilities involving reading, spelling and writing.
- Voice, language and swallowing disorders caused by problems like stroke, cancer or brain injury.
True or false: Speech therapy might help someone who has autism interact socially with others.
TRUE: All people with autism have social communication problems. Speech-language pathologists can educate and train them how to greet others and ask questions; speak in ways appropriate to the listener and setting; and follow social norms for conversation, like taking turns at talking or how close to stand to someone while conversing.
True or false: Speech-language pathologists help people learn to swallow food.
TRUE: A swallowing disorder can lead to problems like poor nutrition and weight loss. Speech-language pathologists can help people learn to manage swallowing problems (called dysphagia) in order to suck, chew and swallow food and liquid properly.
True or false: Speech therapy can help with how your voice sounds.
TRUE: Speech-language pathologists address a variety of voice problems. If you sound hoarse or lose your voice easily, speech therapy can help. Speech-language pathologists can also address other voice issues like talking too loudly, talking through your nose or being unable to make sounds.
What's the best way to take care of your voice? Find out by taking this voice care quiz.
Services we offer in our speech therapy clinic
We provide complete services for people with speech and language difficulties in our clinic, which is part of our CMH Rehabilitation Services department.
These are just a few of the therapies and services we offer:
Video swallowing evaluations. Done in conjunction with the CMH Imaging department, a modified barium study uses real-time x-rays to assess your ability to swallow safely.
Treatments for swallowing disorders. Retraining muscles you use for swallowing is one of the ways we may treat these disorders.
Children’s speech and language therapy. We offer therapies for young children who have difficulty feeding. Other treatments we provide help children to engage in school and at home despite a speech or language delay.
Cancer-related speech pathology. Cancer and its treatments can sometimes cause speech, language, thinking or eating problems. Our team offers therapies that can help.
Adaptive communication device training. These devices, which include picture boards and text-to-speech synthesizers, are designed to help you communicate in your daily life.
Virtual reality (VR) training. With VR, patients wear special goggles and experience a simulation program that helps the brain relearn skills quickly. In speech therapy, VR can be used for cognitive retraining.
Make an appointment with our speech therapy team
Ask your health care provider for a referral to speech therapy.
To schedule an appointment or to learn more about how we can help you, please call 503.338.7555. Oregon patients can also call us at that number to schedule a video appointment, Monday — Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.