Speech therapy is another important branch of the paramedical services. It is concerned with communication difficulties. In fact, recent advances in the field suggest that speech therapists can assess and successfully treat all kinds of voice, speech and language defects, including difficulties in articulation and other problems such as stammering.

THE WORK

Speech therapists are trained persons who assist medical practitioners in the evaluation of speech and hearing disorders. They also employ special methods of training and education in speech therapy.

MAJOR TASKS PERFORMED

The therapy conducted by speech therapists and audio therapists involves the training and education of deaf and dumb people, who are taught to put their impaired faculties to the best possible use. These therapists also assist others with speech disorders and help them to make themselves heard and understood.

Sign language and other special techniques, including lip reading and sound formation, are taught at special schools for the deaf and dumb. Individual or collective attention is provided to the patients, depending on individual requirements. Speech therapists also have to stay in close contact, not only with their patients, but also with teachers, social workers, doctors and psychologists.

ENTRY

A speech therapist can gain employment only after having acquired a degree or a postgraduate qualification in speech therapy.

ELIGIBILITY

Courses in speech therapy and hearing are offered at the B.Sc. level to students who have cleared the intermediate examination, with a background in science. The B.Sc. courses are of three years' duration.

At the M.Sc. level, courses in speech therapy are offered to graduates in speech therapy. The M.Sc. course is a two-year programme.

INSTITUTIONS

Various institutions in the country offer courses in speech and hearing. A few of the prominent ones are listed below.

The All India Institute of Speech and Hearing offers a M.Sc. course in audiology and speech therapy. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, also offers a M.Sc. course in speech pathology and audiology.

B.Sc. courses in speech therapy and hearing are offered at the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing in Mysore, the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped in Mumbai, All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi and the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh.

ACADEMIC PROGRAMME

The syllabi of the various courses in speech therapy include the study of speech patterns,
pathology, hearing aid therapeutics, phonetics, anatomy, physiology, psychology, neurology, audiology, the physics of sound, diseases of the ear, nose and throat.

Initially, students are exposed to practical work, wherein they have to observe therapists in action while they work and then they assist them in actual treatment.