October 16, 2008

• Speech therapy for Parkinson disease

• Overcomes 'soft' voice

• May help 90 percent of PD patients

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB's (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Spain Rehabilitation Center (SRC) is one of a very few facilities in the state offering a unique speech therapy program for people with Parkinson disease (PD). The therapy, called Lee Silverman Voice Training (LSVT), has been scientifically shown to restore oral communication in individuals with Parkinson disease beyond what current pharmacological and surgical interventions are able to provide.

"Many PD patients have trouble with communication," said Jamie Wade, speech clinical coordinator at SRC. "Their volume often is diminished and they tend to speak in a monotone with imprecise articulation. This contributes to limitations in communication for nearly 90 percent of people with PD."

LSVT is an intense therapy, consisting of 16 visits over four weeks. Therapists and patients work on "thinking loud", trying to boost volume in everyday speech. According to the LSVT Foundation, this acts as a trigger to increase effort and coordination across the speech production system. Focus on "thinking loud" impacts multiple areas of speech production, yet is a simple, easily performed task, as individuals with neurological disorders often have difficulty with complex directions.

"LSVT gives PD patients their voices back," Wade said, "which provides a tremendous confidence boost and greatly improves quality of life in both the home and the workplace."

The LSVT Foundation says studies have shown the results of the therapy persist for over two years and that patients are more effective and emotionally engaged communicators after LSVT.