speech problems

[Cynthia Holmes <holmes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

My name is Cynthia Holmes and I am the Coordinator for the APDA
Parkinson's Information & Referral Center at the University of Arizona.
People with concerns about speech should take a look at the LSVT web
site . The "Lee Silverman Voice
Treatment" is a speech therapy technique specifically for people with
Parkinson's. It is an intensive and somewhat expensive approach (16
one-on-one sessions with an LSVT-trained clinician plus a pre-therapy
exam), but for the person who is losing the ability to communicate it
may be well worth the effort and cost. It is the only speech therapy
approach that has documented effectiveness in improving loudness and
speech intelligibility.

You can get the name of a certified LSVT speech pathologist in your
state from this website. If there is no-one listed near you, you might
want to encourage your local PD organization, if you have one, or your
local hospital to host a training by Dr. Lorraine Ramig and her
colleagues. We have done this twice in Tucson and so have a good group
of trained clinicians. There are instructions on how to request a
training in your community on the LSVT website. There are also some
excellent videotapes on the technique, which many local PD resource
centers should have in their libraries and be willing to lend to you.

This URL takes you to an article by Dr. Ramig about voice and speech
problems in PD: 

I can be contacted by phone or email off-list if you need more
information.

Cynthia A. Holmes, PhD
University of Arizona Department of Neurology
APDA Parkinson's Information & Referral Center
616 N. Country Club Road Suite C
Tucson, AZ 85716
Phone: (520) 326-5400
Toll-free: (800) 541-4960
FAX: (520) 326-8591
email: holmes @ u.arizona.edu


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