The Stanley Center for Speech and Language Disorders at Stephen F. Austin State University has received a 2021 Speak Out and Loud Crowd grant from the Parkinson Voice Project, the only 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the world dedicated to helping individuals with Parkinson’s disease improve their speech and swallowing.
The center is among a select group of hospitals, university speech therapy clinics, private practices and nonprofit organizations worldwide to receive this funding. The grant provides free Speak Out training for the clinical instructors and graduate students in SFA’s speech-language pathology program. It also funds materials that are used in the Speak Out and Loud Crowd programs.
“Up to 90% of people with Parkinson’s are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and complications account for a 70% mortality rate in this patient population,” said Parkinson Voice Project founder and CEO Samantha Elandary. “Our vision at Parkinson Voice Project is to make our highly-effective speech therapy program accessible to people with Parkinson’s worldwide.”
East Texas has a large population of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, according to Deena Petersen, director of the Stanley Center for Speech and Language Disorders.
“We are fortunate to be trained in the Speak Out program to help these clients communicate better,” she said.
The clinic offers free therapy sessions to East Texans with Parkinson’s disease to help them learn how to speak with intent, Petersen said.
“People with Parkinson’s disease do not realize they are speaking softly, and people cannot hear them. In the Speak Out program, clients become more aware of their speech and learn that when they speak, it must be with intention.”
In addition to individual Speak Out sessions, the Stanley Center for Speech and Language Disorders offers the Loud Crowd program, which is a maintenance program for patients with Parkinson’s disease offering ongoing vocal practice, support and encouragement. When clients complete the Speak Out program, they transition to Loud Crowd.
The Parkinson Voice Project’s grant program honors Dr. Daniel R. Boone, a world-renowned speech-language pathologist and voice expert who recognized in the late 1950s that individuals with Parkinson’s disease could improve their communication if they spoke with intent. The Parkinson Voice Project combines individual and group therapy to convert speech from an automatic function to an intentional act.
For more information on the center’s services, call (936) 468-7109.
By Nathan Wicker, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University
