Swallowing and Communication Disorders Unit
The Swallowing and Communication Disorders Unit at Bet Hadar assists patients suffering from swallowing, speech, voice, language, and communication disorders following stroke, head injury, or other acute events
The unit aims to advance the rehabilitative patients and enable them to safely swallow a variety of food textures, possess clear language skills, understandable speech, effective communication with their environment, clear voice quality, and sufficient vocal volume. For patients with degenerative diseases (e.g., dementia), the unit focuses on preserving safe swallowing abilities and preventing aspirations (food or liquid entering the airway and lungs).
the unit focuses on preserving safe swallowing abilities and preventing aspirations (food or liquid entering the airway and lungs).
Services
- Diagnosis of impaired consciousness
- Diagnosis and treatment of swallowing disorders accordingly
- Diagnosis and treatment of language, voice, speech, and articulation disorders
- Fitting of alternative augmentative communication (AAC) devices when necessary
- Patient and family guidance
- Collaboration with the multidisciplinary team
- Training for multidisciplinary teams
Specialization Areas:
- Swallowing rehabilitation
- Rehabilitation of ventilated patients
- Rehabilitation of patients with aphasia (acquired language disorder due to brain damage)
- Rehabilitation of patients with dysarthria (poor speech intelligibility)
- Rehabilitation of patients with organic voice disorders (e.g., vocal cord weakness)
- Rehabilitation of patients with facial paralysis
- Treatment of Parkinson’s patients with poor speech intelligibility and weak vocal volume using LSVT or SPEAK OUT! approaches.
