POI’s licensed Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) provide a range of speech therapy services to patients of all ages and abilities. Some common conditions that may be treated with speech therapy are:

• Speech disorders - when a person has difficulty producing speech sounds correctly and/or fluently (e.g. stutter, lisp, difficulty controlling volume & resonance)
• Language disorders - when a person has trouble understanding others (receptive language), or sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings (expressive language). Language disorders may be spoken or written and may involve the form, content, and/or use of language in functional and socially appropriate ways.
• Social communication - when a person has trouble with the social use of verbal and nonverbal communication. These disorders may include problems (a) communicating for social purposes (e.g., greeting, commenting, asking questions), (b) talking in different ways to suit the listener and setting, and (c) following rules for conversation and story-telling. All individuals with autism spectrum disorder have social communication problems. Social communication disorders are also found individuals with other conditions, such as traumatic brain injury.
• Cognitive-communication disorders - problems organizing thoughts, paying attention, remembering, planning, and/or problem-solving. These disorders usually happen as a result of a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or dementia, although they can be congenital.
• Swallowing disorders (dysphagia) are feeding and swallowing difficulties, which may follow an illness, surgery, stroke, or injury.

Speech therapy services also include:

• Aural rehabilitation for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems for individuals with severe expressive and/or language comprehension disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder or progressive neurological disorders.
• Work with people who don't have speech, language, or swallowing disorders, but want to learn how to communicate more effectively (e.g., work on accent modification or other forms of communication enhancement)