As Stroke Awareness Month continues, a Tulsa speech therapist is shedding light on the recovery process and the critical role speech-language pathologists play in post-stroke care.

Recognizing stroke damage in communication and swallowing

Speech-language pathologist Joanie Wells with Ascension St. John Medical Center said that one of the first signs of a stroke may involve difficulty with communication or swallowing.

“Some similar things that I’m looking for as a speech therapist in a patient who’s had a stroke could be a deficit in a patient’s ability to speak or voice or communicate in any way,” Wells said. “Receptive and expressive language can be impacted. Cognitive communication skills such as problem solving or attention skills can be impaired and very commonly trouble swallowing as well is a deficit that I would look for.”

Wells said these symptoms can show up right away.

“It can be pretty immediate,” she said. “Sometimes changes in speech or trouble swallowing, for example, are some of the first symptoms that can let someone know that they should be concerned they may be having a stroke.”

Recovery often begins in the hospital and continues afterward

Once a patient is diagnosed with stroke-related deficits, a speech-language pathologist steps in to begin treatment, often starting during hospitalization and extending into other levels of care.

“We evaluate, provide treatments and even sometimes compensatory strategies for patients that are struggling with any of those deficits in their speech and their swallowing,” Wells said. “And it’s important to know that that rehab starts in the hospital setting, but it can continue after the hospitalization, such as outpatient rehab or skilled nursing, different levels of care after the stroke as well. People can continue to make progress.”

Trouble swallowing is a common but overlooked problem

Wells said one of the most overlooked areas of stroke recovery involves swallowing, which speech therapists are trained to address.

“I think a lot of people are not familiar with a speech therapist being the person that would provide assistance for patients having trouble swallowing after stroke,” she said. “And that’s like one of the most common services that we do, especially right after stroke, because it can be so common to have that trouble with swallowing.”

Long-term outcomes depend on time and treatment

Although stroke recovery can take time and varies by patient, Wells said treatment helps specialists understand what progress can be expected.

“So really we just see how patients progress over the course of treatment in the hospital and then afterwards as well,” she said. “And then with time we can kind of see what kind of gains they’re able to make.”