Does A Speech-Language Pathologist Support Family Caregivers

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A family caregiver is someone that provides physical and or emotional support and care to a disabled or an ill love one at home. Caregivers provide unpaid assistance any where from part time assistance to full time around the clock assistance with 24-hour care. Family caregivers and candidates for counseling due to the fact that their functioning and well-being directly impact the patient that is dependent for around-the-clock care and, indeed, survival (Kreutzer et al., 2009 & Payne, 2015).
Speech-language pathologist support family caregivers by encouraging them to communicate with the person they are caring for. Speech-language pathologist should instruct caregivers to work on; slowing the rate of speech by helping the person to clap out an intended message; use a metronome to pace each word or practice speaking using earphones. Increase prosody by asking a question and have the person answer it while adding stress on key words to emphasize the meaning of the answer. Use blowing and sucking exercises to increase tongue and lip mobility and increase loudness by cuing the patient to speak more loudly (Payne, 2009).
Caregivers should be trained by a speech-language pathologist to assist persons they are taking care of with activities for them
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A speech-language pathologist can show a caregiver the techniques of a good swallow so they have the person they are caring for work on these techniques. They can assist with; encouraging the person to sit up straight any time he or she eats or drinks and make sure all food is cleared from the mouth, make mealtimes enjoyable, festive, and leisurely so they won’t feel like eating a meal is a task but a regular activity. They can also promote small bites and sips to avoid choking on their meals, and thicken liquids to decrease the possibility of