Speech-language pathology encompasses far more than treating childhood articulation or stuttering. At rural facilities like Hawarden Regional Healthcare, speech therapists provide broad treatment plans covering cognitive impairments, pediatric developmental delays, and complex physical rehabilitation for adults.
During a recent appearance on the Siouxland radio program The Daily Grind, speech therapist Dan Rubens detailed the wide range of conditions handled by local therapy professionals.
“Not only do I work with kids, but speech therapists, speech language pathologists, we also work with adults as well. So on the children’s side of things, you’re working with kids with developmental delays, you’re working with kids with autism, with sort of just general language disorders. Um, and then on the adult side, you’re working with individuals who have had strokes, you’re working with individuals who have Parkinson’s, who have had cognitive changes.”
A significant portion of hospital-based speech therapy focuses on swallowing disorders (dysphagia), a highly intricate process involving over 50 muscles and five cranial nerves. Neurological conditions like strokes, Parkinson’s disease, and ALS can severely impair a patient’s swallowing ability, placing them at risk for complications like pneumonia or forcing reliance on feeding tubes. Rubens emphasized that targeted rehabilitation can help recover muscle strength and allow patients to resume normal eating.
To support younger patients aged 12 months to four years, Rubens specializes in the Hanen program, an intervention framework centered on parent training.
“It is a program for kids twelve months to four years old, and it’s focused. It’s a parent coaching intervention. So it’s really about focusing on the parents, working with them, making them the primary, primary interventionist, making them sort of comfortable with how do I, outside of this hour, a week that I see the speech therapist, how do I provide these skills that I’m learning to working with my kid?”
Rubens also noted that many adults delay seeking care due to discomfort discussing memory loss or swallowing issues.
“People don’t really like to talk about their communication problems. They don’t like to talk about their memory problems. They don’t like to talk about their swallowing problems. Also, they’re just kind of like, yeah, I kind of cough and choke every time I swallow. And that’s just kind of the way it is.”
Healthcare providers urge patients or families noticing signs of language delays or frequent choking during meals to consult their physician or reach out directly to Hawarden Regional Healthcare for an evaluation.
