The last two inquiries about speech problems in people with
PD prompted me to write.
To Saul Shubin:
I sympathize with your wife's problem. Most people with
PD eventually have some degree of difficulty with their
speech. For some people, speaking becomes impossible.
Often, though, speech therapy can help. The general belief
*used to be* that speech therapy for people with PD only
helped while the person being treated was in the therapy
room. Some major articles were published by experienced
clinicians stating that there was no carry-over of improved
skills to settings outside of the clinic. Recently,
however, there have been some reports that intensive speech
therapy, often conducted in groups, can be very beneficial.
Please refer to the recent letter regarding the work of Dr.
Lorraine Ramig from the University of Colorado and Denver
Center for the Performing Arts. She has conducted much of
this research, and can send your wife's speech pathologist
materials regarding this therapy. You are doing the right
thing by going to see a speech pathologist. S/he is also
the right person to see for the swallowing problem. There
are swallowing techniques that may be very helpful for your
wife. It may be the case that alternative means of
obtaining nutrition, as well as alternative means of
communicating, may be necessary. But a complete speech and
swallowing evaluation is the only way to know for sure.
Best of luck.
To John Murray:
The problem of "slowed thinking" is well known in
Parkinson's disease. It is even given a name:
bradyphrenia. Whether your mother's problem has to do with
cognition, speech production, or a combination of these is
very difficult to determine from telephone conversations.
Is there someone in her center who could evaluate her for
communication skills, cognition, and memory? This would
help you know how to deal with communication breakdowns on
the telephone. I suggest that you do the bulk of the
talking. Tell her that you are having difficulty
understanding her on the telephone, so how about if you
talk, and she respond by typing you a letter (or, if it's
easier for someone to understand her in person, dictate a
letter). Hope this helps.
Nancy Pearl Solomon, Ph.D., CCC-SLP (that means I'm a
speech-language pathologist)
Asst. Research Scientist
University of Iowa
