Organisations_in_Communication

Specialists and organisation that support people with communication needs. In this assignment I am going to be describing the specialists and organisations that can help and support people who suffer from communication difficulty's and need help. Communication problems can arise from a physical condition for example hearing difficulties or visual impairment, or come from a condition affecting the brain, like Alzheimer’s disease or a stroke. These communication problems may come on over time, or could happen straight away, making it hard to communicate with a person, or making it hard for them to communicate with you. If a person’s hearing or sight is impaired, body language and tone of voice will start to become very important. This could also result in them having to learn new skills like sign language or lip reading in order to be able to communicate. If a condition or impairment starts suddenly, you’ll need to think about changing your methods of communication with that person. You may need to consider your tone of voice, how quickly you speak and how you use body language and gestures to emphasise what you are saying. In order to help somebody who has communication difficulty's or to get help for yourself to communicate better with people who have communication difficulty's and to get a better understanding there are various organisations and support groups set up, listed below are a few. Speech and Language Therapists Speech and language therapists are professionally trained people who have impaired communications in either understanding or producing speech and language. Sometimes the therapist might advise using a communication aid. In healthcare a speech or language therapist can help prevent comunicating, hearing and swallowing disorders. Provide and accommodate diagnostic and treatment services to individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds and change treatment and assessment services accordingly. Speech therapists work closely with the patient, their families, doctors, nurses, carers ect to provide people with the correct help and support. References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_and_language_pathology#Healthcare Speech and language therapists work with: Babies with feeding and swallowing difficulties Children with learning difficulties physical disabilities specific language impairment specific difficulties in producing sounds hearing impairment stammering autism/social interaction difficulties dyslexia voice disorders Adults with communication or eating and swallowing problems following neurological impairments and degenerative conditions, including stroke, head injury, Parkinson's disease and dementia head, neck or throat cancer voice problems mental health issues learning difficulties physical disabilities stammering hearing impairment References http://www.rcslt.org/speech_and_language_therapy/what_is_an_slt There are also various voluntary groups that have been set up to help and support people with specific communication needs, here are just a few; Action for Dysphasic Adults/ AFASIC/ British Aphasiology Society/ British Dyslexia Association/ British Stammering Association/ Communication Matters/ David Lewis Centre/ I CAN/ Makaton Vocabulary Development Project/ The Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children/ National Association of Laryngectomy Clubs/ National Centre for Cued Speech/ SCOPE/ Sense/ the SINGALONG Group. Communication aids People with severe difficulties in speaking or writing can be helped by communication aids. These can be charts with pictures, symbols and letters or words to electronic voice output devices and specially adapted computers. You may be able to obtain communication aids from The NHS speech therapy services, local education authorities, schools and colleges, and through the Employment Service. Communication aids centres (NHS) If necessary local professionals will refer you to specialist regional and national communication aids centres which assess the needs and advise on the most suitable aid. The NHS centres are staffed by speech and language therapists and may have occupational therapists and engineers. The following centres assess people of all ages unless otherwise indicated: References http://www.focusondisability.org.uk/communication-1.html British Stammering Association The British Stammering Association is a national organisation for adults and children who stammer. It is based in london and gives support to people with stammering problems, it researches ways to stop or calm it down and raises awareness.