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All patients on the Brain Injury Unit receive a speech/ language/cognitive evaluation. This includes a short series of standardized tests and informal conversation to look at their ability to concentrate, understand and remember both spoken and printed information, express their ideas orally and in writing, or use gesture, pantomime or body language if unable to speak.
When devising the treatment plan, the following questions are considered:
- Can he/she stay on topic in conversation and shift when the topic changes?
- Can he/she maintain eye contact during a conversation?
- Is his/her speech slurred?
- Does he/she talk too fast or too slow?
- Are they able to recall information over a period of time?
Because the same body parts that produce speech also serve in eating and swallowing, the speech-language pathologist may also evaluate the patient's ability to manage food and drink.
All of these things are taken into consideration to form a treatment plan that may be incorporated into a group or individual setting.
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