The Role of Speech-Language Pathologists

One of the questions on true SCAT-6 concussion assessment tool asks whether the injured person “doesn’t feel right.” It seems primitive. But for a lot of people, it’s right on the money.

After a concussion a lot of people don’t feel like their brain is performing the way it did before the injury. Utilizing memory, concentration and routine executive function can feel exhausting.

Neurologists do a good job identifying problems that need immediate attention (like a brain bleed) and ruling out other conditions that could be causing symptoms that resemble the hallmarks of post-concussive syndrome.

But they don’t provide the hands-on longitudinal care that injured people really need. That comes from speech-language pathologists (SLPs). SLPs provide education and tools that do two things: (1) make accommodations for what has been lost and, frequently in the process, (2) help “re-wire” the brain to recover what may have been lost.

The frustrating thing is that a lot of brain injured clients don’t follow through on their referrals to speech therapy.

How come? Usually because they think that they don’t need speech therapy. Most people hear "speech therapy" and picture a child learning how to pronounce the letter “R.” Clients think that because they can still form all of the sounds they could before the injury, they don’t need speech therapy.

We hear again and again from clients (who follow through) that working with an SLP is the single most helpful part of their treatment. It gives them real strategies. Real results. And access to someone who understands what they are going through.

Even if treating with an SLP may not sound like a perfect fit at first, for many people it’s the single most important form of treatment after a brain injury and helps make their lives—if not the same as they were before—a lot more manageable.