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Rheumatoid arthritis can cause hearing loss either directly, if inflammation damages the ears and nerves, or indirectly, such as when medication for RA impairs hearing.

Hearing loss is treatable, and it may sometimes even be possible to reverse it. Finding the right treatment requires a trip to the doctor and a comprehensive exam.

An RA specialist can assess whether RA symptoms have spread to the ear. They can help a person weigh the risks and benefits of medication and refer them to a hearing loss expert if necessary.

Stimming is a behavior displayed by autistic people who employ it as a coping mechanism for particular emotions.

Stimming is thought to provide a pleasurable sensation and taking it away abruptly could have adverse effects and is not recommended.

To reduce the intensity and frequency of stimming, or even to stop the behavior, experts recommend slowly replacing the behaviors with others that are safer or more acceptable.

The replacement behaviors should also provide the person with the same pleasurable, stimulating, or calming experience.

Examples include:

Placing the hands in the pockets or gentle finger tapping instead of hand flapping.
Chewing or biting a safe rubber object instead of fingers or an arm.

Pediatric audiologists and speech language pathologists each serve different roles, they often work together to track a child’s progress and make adjustments to hearing devices or therapy to best serve a child and their family.

Audiologists specialize in completing evaluations of hearing and in helping people manage their hearing loss. A pediatric audiologist has had special training in completing hearing evaluations and fitting hearing devices for children of all ages.

Pediatric speech language pathologists work with children of all ages who have a variety of communication disorders. Some speech language pathologists specialize in working with children with hearing loss and supporting communication development while working closely with the ENTs and audiologists on the team.

Why Is Hearing Important for Speech and Language Development?

In order for a child’s brain to learn new sounds and words, it has to hear them first! Children can have many different degrees of hearing loss that effect how they hear and understand speech:

Mild – This child may have difficulty listening when it’s noisy and may not be able to hear or understand some speech sounds.
Moderate – This child will only be able to understand speech if he or she can see the speaker’s face.
Moderately-Severe to Severe – This child will miss most or all of speech, even if he or she can see the speaker’s face. He or she may not hear voices unless the speech is very loud.
Profound – This child may not be able to hear even very loud sounds. He or she will respond mostly to sight and vibrations.

The greater the degree of hearing loss, the more likely a child will experience delays in speech and language development, as well as the development of reading skills!

The loss of hearing is often the first sign people pay heed to when it comes to audiology. The person tends to turn on the volume of the television louder than other family members, or tends to find it difficult to hear someone speaking right next to them.

There may even be a ringing in the ears when there is no sound actually present. This condition is called tinnitus and is fairly common. It is symptoms like these that show up on the person’s radar alerting them or their family members to the fact that not all may be well with their hearing.

A number of diagnostic tests are currently available for the field of audiology. Based on the symptoms of the person, the audiologist will recommend specific tests. Here are some common tests which may be requested.

👉How to do Speech-Language Evaluation and What all you need to keep in mind while doing the assessment?👈

✨A speech and language evaluation is the measurement of a person's communication skills. It is done to find out if a person has communication problems. The evaluation is done by a speech-language clinician. The speech-language clinician gathers information by asking questions about your child and testing the child.

✨A speech and language assessment can identify and help if you have problems swallowing, understanding language, forming words and sounds, using spoken language, or co-ordinating facial movements. Speech and language therapy can help children and adults who have: specific speech or language difficulties.

✨The speech and language screening allows a speech-language pathologist to observe the child's language understanding and use, production of speech sounds, vocal and nasal quality, and social language skills.

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👉Stuttering is common among young children as a normal part of learning to speak. Young children may stutter when their speech and language abilities aren't developed enough to keep up with what they want to say. Most children outgrow this developmental stuttering.

👉Sometimes, however, stuttering is a chronic condition that persists into adulthood. This type of stuttering can have an impact on self-esteem and interactions with other people.

👉Children and adults who stutter may benefit from treatments such as speech therapy, using electronic devices to improve speech fluency or cognitive behavioral therapy.

✨Stuttering signs and symptoms may include:

👉Difficulty starting a word, phrase or sentence
Prolonging a word or sounds within a word
Repetition of a sound, syllable or word
Brief silence for certain syllables or words, or pauses within a word (broken word)
Addition of extra words such as "um" if difficulty moving to the next word is anticipated
Excess tension, tightness, or movement of the face or upper body to produce a word
Anxiety about talking
Limited ability to effectively communicate
The speech difficulties of stuttering may be accompanied by:
-Rapid eye blinks
-Tremors of the lips or jaw
-Facial tics
-Head jerks
-Clenching fists

👉Researchers continue to study the underlying causes of developmental stuttering. A combination of factors may be involved. Possible causes of developmental stuttering include:

👉Abnormalities in speech motor control. Some evidence indicates that abnormalities in speech motor control, such as timing, sensory and motor coordination, may be involved.
Genetics. Stuttering tends to run in families. It appears that stuttering can result from inherited (genetic) abnormalities.

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👉Pallister-Killian syndrome (PKS) is an extremely rare genetic disorder that is present at birth. The prevalence has been estimated to be 1 in 20,000; however, it is likely that PKS is underdiagnosed due to the difficulty of making a cytogenetic diagnosis from a blood test.

👉The signs and symptoms of Pallister-Killian syndrome vary from child to child and range in severity. Typically, children with this diagnosis have extremely weak muscle tone (hypotonia), intellectual impairment and developmental delays, distinct facial features, skin pigmentation differences, seizures and other birth defects.

👉Additionally, babies with Pallister-Killian syndrome often experience a variety of developmental complications related to weak muscle tone, including:

Breathing and feeding difficulties.
Delays in gross motor skills such as sitting, standing and walking.
Developmental and speech delays.
~Large forehead that is often broad
~Depressed nasal bridge
~Widely-spaced eyes (orbital hypertelorism), which may include droopy eyelids (ptosis)
~Low-set ears with thickened helices (top rim of the ear)
~Cupid’s bow lip with extension of the phitral skin into the vermilion border (termed Pallister lip)
~Highly arched or cleft palate
~Thin hair on the head and sparse eyebrows
~Intellectual disabilities
~Developmental and speech delays
~Skin pigmentation differences, such as streaks or patches of skin that are lighter or darker than surrounding skin
~Skeletal differences

👉SPEECH THERAPISTS can help the children suffering from PKS w.r.t. Language, speech and intellectual disabilities and delays.
For more info, DM us directly.

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👉The cranial nerves are a set of 12 paired nerves that arise directly from the brain. The first two nerves (olfactory and optic) arise from the cerebrum, whereas the remaining ten emerge from the brain stem.

🧠The names of the cranial nerves relate to their function and they are also numerically identified in roman numerals (I-XII).

👉Cranial nerves relay information between the brain and parts of the body, primarily to and from regions of the head and neck, including the special senses of vision, taste, smell, and hearing.

🧠The cranial nerves emerge from the central nervous system above the level of the first vertebrae of the vertebral column.Each cranial nerve is paired and is present on both sides. There are conventionally twelve pairs of cranial nerves, which are described with Roman numerals I–XII. Some considered there to be thirteen pairs of cranial nerves, including cranial nerve zero. The numbering of the cranial nerves is based on the order in which they emerge from the brain and brainstem, from front to back.

👉The terminal nerves,  olfactory nerves  and optic nerves  emerge from the cerebrum, and the remaining ten pairs arise from the brainstem, which is the lower part of the brain.

🧠The cranial nerves are considered components of the peripheral nervous system (PNS),although on a structural level the olfactory (I), optic (II), and trigeminal (V) nerves are more accurately considered part of the central nervous system (CNS).

👉The cranial nerves are in contrast to spinal nerves, which emerge from segments of the spinal cord

DM us for any related doubts or concerns.

It’s not just a concern for teenagers, anyone who listens to loud music with headphones or earbuds is at risk for noise-induced hearing loss. While headphones don’t pose a hearing loss risk themselves, the way they are used can lead to noise-induced hearing loss. Your risk increases as the volume gets louder and the frequency and duration of listening gets longer.

Consequences of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Noise-induced hearing loss can be permanent. Teenagers and young adults have the highest risk of impaired development as a result. Already, more than 5 million children and 26 million adults have permanent damage to their inner ear that has caused noise-induced hearing loss. Hearing plays a crucial role in the development of speech, language and communication, so hearing loss can impede a child’s listening and learning in school.

Because hearing loss happens gradually, people often don’t realize it’s happening until permanent damage has already occurred. If you or your child is experiencing muffled or distorted sounds, or you notice ringing or buzzing in the ears after hearing a loud noise, you or your child may have hearing loss. It’s best to recognize the risk factors of hearing loss before permanent damage occurs. It’s a good idea for you and your child’s pediatrician to talk to your child about safe listening habits.

Most hearing loss is gradual. But if you rapidly go deaf in one ear, either suddenly or over a few days, call your audiologist.

Ringing or other sounds in your ears, such as roaring, clicking, buzzing or hissing, is called tinnitus. Tinnitus can be a symptom of many different conditions, including ear infections, heart disease, and thyroid problems, but one of its chief causes is noise-induced hearing loss.

If you’ve noticed you’re becoming clumsier than in the past, are experiencing vertigo symptoms such as dizziness, or are having difficulty with your ability to balance, the cause might be your ears. Hearing and balance are linked to mechanisms within the inner ear.

When you’re trying to make conversation within a group of people, especially in a louder locale such as a restaurant or party, you may notice you have a lot more trouble grasping what people are saying. This common problem is sometimes referred to as hidden hearing loss because it’s not always detected in standard hearing tests but can be a precursor to traditional hearing loss.

One sign of hearing loss is hearing other sounds more acutely, even to the point of pain. As your hearing diminishes overall, you may become more sensitive in one or both ears to certain, specific sounds, a symptom called hyperacusis.

Do you increasingly find yourself boosting the TV volume higher than others in your household find necessary? These are indicators your hearing has suffered.

One early hearing loss sign is “listening fatigue.” You may find yourself getting extra tired after a day spent listening to customers or a night trying to field dinner-party banter—so much so that you start avoiding conversing in groups.

Getting appointment times mixed up? Picking up the wrong item for your spouse at the grocery store? Sometimes what appears to be forgetfulness can be due to hearing loss causing you not to catch critical information.

If your child or someone you know stutters, you should get help from a speech-language pathologist (SLP), as early as possible.
It is important to intervene children or adults with stuttering at the earliest, as it not only affect the way a person speaks but also nurtures feelings like fear, shame, avoidance, isolation anxiety, guilt etc. Hence early intervention has faster progress and helps to reduce its negative consequences.

Don'ts
As a parent or teacher or even a listener, you might be tempted to finish their sentences in order to help them but this does more harm than good.
You need to let the person know by your manner that you are paying attention and listening to what they say rather how they say it.
Don’t say, “relax”, or “slowdown”: Such simple advice can be demeaning to them.
Don’t speak deliberately too slow or too fast: Talking in a natural way promotes good communication model.

Do's
You need to give them an opportunity to speak without distractions from family members, classmates or friends.
Give them enough time to talk for e.g.: give the person time to answer a question before you ask the second one.
Persons with stuttering may have factors that aggravate their difficulty for e.g.: telephonic conversation, time pressure, unfamiliar listeners, fatigue or stress.
You can repeat or rephrase what the person says that you have understood it.
The above mentioned will only help the child with stutters be comfortable while communicating, but in order to correct their dysfluencies they will require the help of a Speech Language Pathologist. Stuttering can be corrected at any age (earlier the better) with regular therapy by an SLP. An SLP can help by working with the child/adult to change how he/she speaks, on how to respond when the child/adult stutters, changes you can make to improve their fluency and what to do to improve how they feel about talking.
“Let us help all persons with stuttering grow out of their dyfluencies through speaking.”

🌈 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT AUTISM 🌈

✨Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 54 children in the United States today.

✨Several factors may influence the development of autism, and it is often accompanied by sensory sensitivities and medical issues such as gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, seizures or sleep disorders, as well as mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression and attention issues.

✨Signs of autism:  usually appear by age 2 or 3. Some associated development delays can appear even earlier, and often, it can be diagnosed as early as 18 months. Research shows that early intervention leads to positive outcomes later in life for people with autism.

👉 In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association merged four distinct autism diagnoses into one umbrella diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). They included autistic disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger syndrome. 👈

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✨July is FRAGILE-X SYNDROME AWARENESS MONTH✨

Let's dig in to know more about this syndrome.

👉Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is a genetic disorder. FXS is caused by changes in a gene that scientists called the fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene when it was first discovered. The FMR1 gene usually makes a protein called fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). FMRP is needed for normal brain development. People who have FXS do not make this protein. People who have other fragile X-associated disorders have changes in their FMR1 gene but usually make some of the protein.

👉FXS affects both males and females. However, females often have milder symptoms than males. The exact number of people who have FXS is unknown, but a review of research studies estimated that about 1 in 7,000 males about 1 in 11,000 females have been diagnosed with FXS.

👉DIAGNOSIS:
FXS can be diagnosed by testing a person’s DNA from a blood test. A doctor or genetic counselor can order the test. Testing also can be done to find changes in the FMR1 gene that can lead to fragile X-associated disorders.

Treatment has been already discussed in one of the thread of this post.

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👂Hearing loss is often is considered a normal side effect of aging. But research shows that hearing loss also may occur with long-term use of opioids. It also can happen with other prescription medications or over-the-counter drugs. It’s a troubling issue that is rarely discussed or listed on drug labels. Here’s what you need to know about why hearing loss can be a long-term side effect of opioid and drug use.👂

👉Why hearing loss occurs

Hearing is a relatively complex process that relies on sensory hair cells in the inner ear. These hair cells interpret sound waves into nerve signals that go to the brain.
Medical experts believe ototoxic drugs affect blood circulation throughout the body including the ears. The loss of blood circulation can damage the ear’s hair cells and cause temporary or permanent hearing loss.

👉Seek medical assistance👈

Ototoxic medications, including opioids for pain, sometimes are the best treatment option. So, if you notice any hearing changes while using these drugs, contact your physician.

Feel free to DM us for any related doubts or concerns.

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👨‍👨‍👦Role of Parents in life of a Special Need👨‍👨‍👦

Parents play the most important role in the overall development of their child. It is the right guidance of parents that develops the character of the child. Parenting is an ongoing job. It is not something you can get away from once the time comes, because children need their parents from time to time, to stay on the right track. Here’s all that you need to know about the role of parents in the development of their child.
👉All development is interrelated and cannot be defined under water-tight categories. So let us focus on how parents can actively participate to ensure that the child’s growing years are worthy. The role of parents in child development is responsive, responsible and never-ending. It governs responses, actions, thinking and decision making of a child in the following areas.

🌼 * Major areas of development:*🌼

- Cognitive Development
-Socio-cultural Development
- Physical Development
- Mental Development
- Spiritual Development

✨So, relying totally on SLP for the development of child who just gets 3-4 hours with the child per week is not okay. Evidently, the part played by Caregivers is pivotal and really helpful for the child's development keeping the various aspects in mind.✨

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Crocodile Tear Syndrome 😂

Haven't heard of this before. But as soon as I read this, couldn't resist to bring this in spotlight 😂😂.

Because we've seen a lot of people crying during viva and after reading this, It seems normal to cry🙂.

Share your experiences in the comment section below and let us know your thoughts too. 😂🙌

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Drug abuse, sometimes also called substance abuse, is a term used to describe the use of both legal and illegal drugs for non-therapeutic and/or non-medical purposes. Alcohol and ni****ne are sometimes included in this description, as well as prescription medication that is used incorrectly and inappropriately.

Drug abuse affects all of the body because, when drugs are ingested or otherwise consumed, they enter the bloodstream and are carried all over. This means that harmful substances enter the brain, and when these substances affect the communication control centre then impairments in speech and language can occur. At a very basic level, drug abuse can be seen as a method of injuring the brain.

This may mean that memory and vocabulary are impaired, that the messages sent to the muscles involved in producing speech are mixed up, that the muscles involved in producing speech can weaken, that the ability to comprehend what others are saying is lowered, and that abilities in writing, reading, listening and even math skills are also affected.
If speech is impaired by drug use, speech therapy may be able to rehabilitate an individual’s speech and language abilities to some extent. What occurs in speech therapy will depend upon many variables including the age of the individual, the speech difficulties experienced by the individual, the length of the session (usually between 30 and 60 minutes), whether the session is private or a group session, and the location of the session.
If individuals can still verbally communicate then activities and drills designed to boost vocabulary, learn correct grammar, practice tone and pacing and more may be the basis of therapy sessions. If individuals cannot verbally communicate then the speech therapist may be able to introduce communication aids such as books, charts or computers, or possibly even teach sign language, which may allow the individual to communicate through alternates to verbal speech.

🗣️Importance of Early Intervention?🗣️

Here's what you need to know ASAP.

👉Early intervention can improve developmental trajectories for children with disabilities and improve outcomes with regard to health; language; and cognitive, social, and emotional development. It can also help families care for their children, advocate for services, and gain access to systems of support. However, intervention is more likely to be effective if it is done earlier in life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “the connections in a child’s brain are most adaptable during the first three years of life. These connections, also called neural circuits, are the foundation for learning, behavior, and health. Over time, these connections become harder to change.” The earlier intervention is implemented, the better a child’s chances of achieving their full potential.

👉Here are some of the benefits that children and families may experience through early intervention:

Increases the child’s ability to comprehend and deal within social environments such as school, the neighborhood and community, and, eventually, employment.

Builds a supportive and nurturing environment for the entire family. Since children are more comfortable in their homes, they will benefit when families and teachers collaborate to incorporate new developments into the child’s everyday routines. Parents may feel empowered by their newfound role to enhance their child’s development.

For any related questions or doubts, DM us.

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Cranial nerves provide sensory and motor innervation to numerous structures that are important for speech, phonation, resonance, and swallowing. They also supply innervation to voluntary and involuntary muscles.

An understanding of the cranial nerves is essential to the practice of speech-language pathology because they provide valuable information to the function regarding speech, voice, and swallowing abilities.

Since speech-language pathologists work with individuals with neurogenic cognitive-communicative and swallowing problems, it is imperative to know how these nerves are affected anytime there is a brain stem lesion or a neurologic impairment. Further, it is important that speech-language pathologists have a working knowledge of the function of the cranial nerves and their significance as a dynamic and powerful tool that is used in the diagnosis of speech and swallowing disorders.