Helping patients with communication disorders

Many people struggle daily with the inability to clearly express themselves, such as those who stutter or people who have lost their ability to communicate due to a stroke. 

May is Better Speech and Hearing Month, which recognizes speech and language therapists' work to help patients regain their independence.

"The treatments we offer can drastically improve someone's quality of life," shares Aeriana Culpitt, speech and language pathologist at Gundersen Moundview Hospital and Clinics. "We help patients of all ages, from children with speech sound disorders to adults with dementia." 

Culpitt specializes in speech and language and areas closely tied to communication, including memory and feeding, swallowing, and voice disorders that can be the result of developmental delays, neurological degenerative diseases, stroke, a traumatic brain injury, cancer, surgery or aging.

Rehabilitation for communication disorders includes voice, fluency, articulation, hearing and language skills, comprehension and memory skills, and swallow studies.

"I work with patients and their family, and often with other rehabilitation staff, such as physical and occupational therapists," Culpitt says. "It's a team effort to ensure patients' rehabilitation is a success."

For more information or to make a speech and language therapy appointment in Friendship, call (608) 339-3331. A primary care referral is required. Culpitt also provides services at Gundersen St. Joseph's Hospital and Clinics in Hillsboro and Gundersen Tri-County Hospital and Clinics in Whitehall.