Alpha Care: New Speech Therapy Toy Unveiled

WISCONSIN –22-10-2024 Alpha- Care Health Services of Wisconsin is one of the premiere home health care agencies serving multiple counties in southeastern Wisconsin, and with the talling of a new piece of equipment the agency is excited to announce the arrival of the latest piece of equipment—A Pacing Board, to help with speech therapy. This easy to use speech helping tool helps the aphasia and other speech disordered patients regain their ability to communicate effectively.

Aphasia according to the definition is an acquired speech disorder that affects a patient’s ability to produce speech and understand both spoken and written language. It is most frequently presented in patients who have experienced stroke or other brain lesion. Aphasic patients find it difficult to express ideas, desire and emotions and suffer social exclusion, depression and lowered life satisfaction. Restorative speech therapy is impressive but the kinds of therapy aides have been scarce - until now.

“A pacing board is such a very basic idea but it does actually work wonders for an aphasia patient,” explained Michelle Jones, SLP at Alpha Care. “It helps to shape and time words and phrases and encourages language to emerge. We have followed some individuals that used to give short responses of a few words try to speak fluently and form whole sentences. It’s incredibly rewarding.”

A pacing board is usually a portable white board where preferably a box has been drawn and patients can point or flag to one box at a time as they plan what to say aloud. The systematic application of formulation and oral motor planning assist in rewiring new neural circuits for speech and language. More specific names for pacing boards are structured communication boards or formulation boards as well as sequencing boards.

was introduced to the use of pacing board while compiling for most recent and effective speech therapy protocols for individuals with aphasia. When I started the Power of Ten series, I was searching for the tools that my patients, most of whom were homebound, could use to make changes from hour-long, infrequent sessions. This gave the research on pacing boards a very encouraging look. I consulted my team at Alpha Care and everyone was in agreement that offering pacing boards to appropriate patients has a clear purpose that matches our organization’s mission: to provide home healthcare that is innovative, compassionate, and that brings life-changing results.

Pacing boards can be used with pictures, words or both depending with the situation and the child. I personally observe patients repeating their speech exercises every day on their own as they try to think while pointing at the boxes – that organized way of thinking is restored over time. In our context, pacing boards can easily be taught to the caregivers on how to use in supporting the user.

Equipment such as Scratch off cards, mini white boards, Checklist and question prompt cards will also complement the tact that is involved depending on the use of pacing board routines. Alpha Care’s speech therapists create comprehensive home therapy kits for the further patient’s practice success. Each member comprehensively collaborates with another to facilitate the accomplishment of recuperative objectives.

Alpha Care is among the largest home health, personal care and hospice service providers in Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Southeast region serving 12 counties and as part of this vocation, this organization is always keen on offering consumers the newest technologies and solutions on the market. Including pacing boards in the skilled speech therapy care plans helps the agency to promote better skilled speech therapy services to meet the community needs again.

For more information about Alpha Care’s speech therapy services, and the incredible transformation that pacing boards can make, please phone at +414-937-5888 or visit https://alphacarewi.com/. The experienced staff is ready to provide all the necessary information and to organize a special home consultation.