Communication Matters

The Speech Language Pathologists at Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center (CHSC) are experts with children and teenagers who stutter.  As defined by The Stuttering Foundation, “Stuttering is a communication disorder in which the flow of speech is broken by repetitions (li-li-like this), prolongations (lllllike this), or abnormal stoppages (no sound) of sounds and syllables”. Over 3 million Americans stutter, including well known people such as Ed Sheeran, Emily Blunt, Darren Sproles, and Tiger Woods. CHSC has developed a therapy program called FACEtime: Fluency Attitude and Communication Effectiveness.  FACEtime is a program designed for older children and young teens who stutter and want to communicate more fluently and confidently.

Anna Margaret “Annie” Glenn is the widow of astronaut and Senator John Glenn. She suffered from a severe stutter for most of her life. Once she received treatment, and overcame her disorder, she became a tireless advocate for people with disabilities and communication disorders. In 2016, Governor John Kasich passed a law naming February 17th (Annie’s birthday) as Annie Glenn Communication Disorders Awareness Day in the State of Ohio.

A communication disorder is an impairment in the ability to receive, send, process, and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal and graphic symbol systems. A communication disorder may be evident in the processes of hearing, language, and/or speech. A communication disorder may range in severity from mild to profound.

A group of women sit together at the Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center in Cleveland while their loved ones complete their weekly stroke support group session.

A speech sound (or articulation) disorder is when your child has difficulty making speech sounds. For example, if a child says “dup” when he is trying to say “cup”, this is a problem with speech sounds. Many children with speech disorders are also hard for others to understand.  Children begin building speech skills from birth, then develop sounds over time, and eventually, use all speech sounds correctly. Using the earlier example, it would be fine if a twelve-month-old child said “dup” for “cup”, but that would not be expected from a four-year-old child.  A child has a speech disorder when she is unable to make sounds that would be expected for her age. Both children and adults can have a speech disorder. It can occur as a result of a medical problem or have no known cause.

As audiologists at Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center, we are best known for rehabilitating hearing loss.  However, we don’t stop at evaluating your hearing.  We care about communication.  When you come to one of our audiologists for a diagnostic hearing evaluation, we discuss with you your lifestyle and your communication needs.  We talk to you about how your specific hearing loss impacts your ability to communicate in a wide range of listening environments.  Just as important— we work with family, friends, and other communication partners to help them better understand how to communicate with a loved one who has hearing loss.  During May - Better Hearing and Speech Month - we want to discuss how Clear Speech can lead to better hearing.  The following strategies can help you improve your communication with family and friends who have a hearing loss.

Only through communication can human life hold meaning.
– Paulo Freire

Welcome to the blog for Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center (CHSC). As the premier provider of hearing, speech-language and deaf programs, services and advocacy, CHSC will keep you updated as to the latest information, tips, resources, research and more related to all things communication-based. If you are wondering how important the gift of communication can be - consider these

Social skills are the ways we use our language skills in social situations. Social communication is important in developing effective interpersonal skills and is critical to various aspects of our daily life. Social skills are important in childhood and adulthood. What is the relationship between social skills and speech-language skills/disorders?