The Voice of Southwest Louisiana August 2019 Issue

ight side muscle weakness and not limited
to difficulty (choking/coughing) swallowing
food and beverages. The person may also
complain of severe, ongoing headaches.
You may possibly notice swelling to the
face, lips or tongue and even the inability to
control the tongue accompanied with saliva
drooling.
The onset of STROKE can occur suddenly
or gradually and is diagnosed medically,
treated and managed by a physician. The
affects can be temporary or permanent.
The impairment scale ranges: Minimal,
Mild, Moderate, Severe and Profound.
Physician, Internists, Neurologists,
Neuro-Surgeons initiate direct or third
party referral to a Speech-Language
Pathologist to conduct an evaluation
to see if the patient shows a decline or
significant loss of function immediately
after the stroke, also known as “POST
STROKE.”
A physician referral requests a speech
screen or evaluation for a patient. When
the Speech Pathologists conducts
a screen or evaluation according to
physicians’ script/orders, the results
of that assessment give rise to
communications between the Speech
Pathologist and other relative disciplines
about the status with respect to HIPPA
regulations.
There are several components assessed
by the Speech Pathologist and include,
Orientation, Speech/Voice, Swallowing,
Language Reception, Language Expression,
Reading and Writing; realizing the
characteristics of decline in areas of
speaking, thinking, listening, reading and
writing.
The patient recovery process can last in
duration – short - only a few days, extensive
- for weeks, several months and years.
Daigle is licensed in the state of Louisiana and is known as a professional
“Speech and Swallow” Therapist, “Speech and Dysphagia Specialist.” She is a
friend to the medical community and provides consultative services to physicians,
hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, assistant living communities,
clinics, families/caregivers and other speech therapists. She is an active provider
of services as an interactive therapist and team member for Physical Therapy (PT),
Occupational Therapy (OT), Respiratory Therapy and other multiple disciplines.
(When a patient has a STROKE and is experiencing ‘swallowing” difficulties, that
difficulty is known as DYSPHAGIA.)
Daigle has attended many certifying courses and training conferences to acquire
more in-depth skills toward learning symptoms, characteristics and remediation
strategies. She studied in Atlanta with one of the nation’s leading experts, Jerri
Logemann, world renowned author in Speech and Dysphagia and researcher in
Communicative Disorders and Dysphagia.
Daigle has continued training with Speech Team, Inc., to become registered
for DPNS (Dysphagia technique) and E-Stim (oral-facial technique, which) are
innovative therapeutic techniques specifically utilized by trained Speech-Language
Pathologists for the remediation of swallowing disorders and oral facial deficits.
Daigle is also a member of the American Speech-Hearing Language Association
Dysphagia Special Interest Group.
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