By Caroline Boden
The University Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic (USLHC) has established a new Parkinson’s voice therapy program on campus with the help of a grant from the Parkinson Voice Project.
The University of Houston is now able to help people who live with the debilitating impact of Parkinson’s disease on their voice and ability to swallow. SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd is the grant-funded program that has recently been brought to campus.
“The Parkinson Voice Project’s program offers people with Parkinson’s disease the opportunity to preserve their voice and swallow,” said Danielle Devore, a speech pathologist and clinical educator at the USLHC. “Voice is an integral part of a person’s sense of self and maintaining a voice allows people with Parkinson’s disease to remain connected to family and friends and retain a sense of self.”
After sending one of the speech language pathologists from USLHC to the two-day training in Dallas, two other clinical educators were able to complete online training and then provide free training for the graduate students. All of the trainings and materials for this program were covered by the grant.
“When I went to our national convention, I ran across this program,” Devore said. “What I liked about this program was that it’s easier to implement on the graduate student level and it’s pretty straightforward and direct. It also has good results [with patients] that carry over. This program would be perfect for the university setting.”
The nonprofit organization Parkinson Voice Project developed this two-part program. Patients begin in the Speak Out portion of the program that focuses on speaking with intent and attend two to three times a week for six weeks. The second half of the program is called Loud Crowd, which is a recurring free group therapy session that continues to cover the components from Speak Out, but it’s more social. Participants can instead socialize and converse on desired topics.
“The Parkinson’s project has really stressed the importance of continued practice in order to maintain the gains that you accrue during the therapy,” said Clinic Director Jane Tragesser.
Prior to therapy, patients must come in for a speech evaluation. To be a candidate, they must be able to tolerate 40 minutes of therapy, follow simple directions and show improvements in at least two of the following categories: breath support, volume, vocal quality, articulation, fluency and intonation of speech.
According to Parkinson Voice Project, up to 90% of people with Parkinson’s are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and aspiration pneumonia caused by swallowing issues accounts for 70% of the mortality rate in this patient population.
While the clinic is only in its early stages with this program, they have completed the trainings, are following the outlines from the Parkinson Voice Project and hope to begin evaluations within the next week.
“We kind of have the program set up, so now we just need to market it and bring the people in,” Devore said. “I think we’re still in the growing phase of it. The biggest thing is the consistency with Loud Crowd. Because this is usually for an older population and consistency is best. Same time, same place – that alone will spread the word.”
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