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In order to obtain proper insurance coverage, there should be a section of health insurance that covers speech therapy, whether that fall under mental health therapy due to its crossover of therapy as the mode of fixing the "illness". The way to obtain this is to create an act similar to the act passed in 2010 called the ACA, which stands for the Affordable Care Act, which requires "plans sold on the individual and family health insurance marketplace to include mental insurance coverage (https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/individual-and-family/mental-health-coverage-in-us-health-plans). By taking the same route as people did to achieve an act that covers mental health, I believe insurance covering speech therapy could be attained.

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There are many speech therapy regulations across the United States in regards to insurance rates. For example, the type of insurance coverage you have can play a huge role in the amount of coverage you obtain. Speech therapy that is used to fix mispronunciation, a lisp or a stutter (like my brother) are normally not included in coverage. Another factor that is huge in calculating coverage weights is whether or not a family or party wants to partake in home visits (the most expensive option), office visits, or telemedicine options. Some insurance companies place a maximum of sessions they will cover, or a maximum cost to be covered if the patient does not suffer a disorder whose side effect is a speech impediment.

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"One study of over 700 children with speech or language difficulties shows that speech therapy had a significant positive effect. The results show that an average of 6 hours of speech therapy over 6 months significantly improved communication performance."(article 2)

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https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/speech-therapy#is-it-effective

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Speech therapy provides treatment and support for people experiencing speech disorders and communication problems. The approach is useful for treating several issues in both children and adults.

Speech is the expression of thoughts using articulate sounds. A speech disorder is an issue that prevents a person from communicating using spoken words. People may also refer to them as communication disorders.

Keep reading to learn more about speech therapy, including the conditions it may benefit, and how it works.

Speech disorders can develop in multiple ways. They can occur due to:

nerve injuries to the brain

muscular paralysis

structural abnormalities

developmental disabilities

A 2015 study showed that around 8% of children aged between 3-17 years experienced a communication disorder during the last 12 months.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), around people in the United States have trouble using their voices.

Speech therapy is an effective treatment for speech and communication disorders.

With speech therapy, a speech-language pathologist (SLP) provides treatment and support for people with speech disorders. They are health professionals trained to evaluate and treat those with speech, language, or swallowing disorders.

People often refer to SLPs as speech therapists.

An SLP will begin by assessing the individual. They can then identify different types of speech disorders and how they can treat them.

Speech therapy for children

A child may participate in speech therapy in a classroom as part of a small group or in a one-on-one setting. This depends on which speech disorder they are experiencing.

The SLP will use therapeutic exercises and activities to help them overcome their specific issues.

These include:

Language activities: Involves playing and talking with the child while using pictures, books, and objects to stimulate language development. The SLP may also demonstrate correct pronunciation and use repetition exercises to help increase the child's language skills.

Articulation activities: These will involve the SLP working closely with a child to help them with their pronunciation. The SLP will demonstrate how to make specific sounds, often during play activities.

Feeding and swallowing therapy: An SLP can work closely with a child with chewing or swallowing issues. The SLP can also use oral exercises to help strengthen the muscles in the mouth or work with different food textures to improve the child's oral awareness.

Exercises: The SLP may use a number of tongue, lip, and jaw exercises, alongside facial massage to help strengthen the muscles around the mouth. This can help them with future speech and communication.

An SLP will also provide the child with strategies and homework. These exercises allow them to work through certain activities with a parent or caregiver, so they can continue to practice at home.

Speech therapy for adults

An SLP can use several different techniques as part of adult speech therapy. These include:

Social communication: The SLP may use problem-solving, memory activities, and conversation exercises to improve communication.

Breathing exercises: An SLP may use breathing exercises to assist with resonance issues.

Mouth exercises: These are a suitable way to strengthen oral muscles, which can help improve communication.

Swallowing exercises: Medical issues, such as Parkinson's disease, oral cancer, or a stroke, may cause swallowing difficulties. An SLP can use swallowing exercises to help a person manage these issues.

An SLP can use speech therapy to treat several conditions, which include the following:

Stuttering

Stuttering is a speech disorder that specialists characterize by the repetition of sounds, syllables, or words. A person with a stutter often repeats or prolongs words, syllables, or phrases.

A person with a stutter knows what they want to say but has trouble speaking clearly or in a manner that flows naturally.

People often also refer to a stutter as a stammer.
Learn more about stuttering here.
Aphasia

Aphasia is a disorder that causes a person to have difficulty with language or speech. Damage to the parts of the brain that are responsible for language may trigger aphasia. Strokes are a leading cause of the condition in adults.

A person with aphasia may lose their ability to express and understand language, and may also have difficulty reading or writing.

According to the NIDCD, around 1 million people in the U.S. are living with aphasia, while almost 180,000 acquire the condition each year.
Learn more about aphasia here.
Articulation disorders

Specialists classify articulation disorder as a disorder without associations to another speech or linguistic disability.

Articulation disorders refer to people experiencing issues with the production of sound involving the coordinated movements of the lips, tongue, teeth, palate, and respiratory system.

Those with these disorders may have difficulty making certain sounds, for example, saying "wabbit" instead of "rabbit."

A person with phonological disorders can make these sounds correctly, but they may use them in the wrong position of a word.

People with articulation disorders often mispronounce words. Many individuals also have issues with other areas of language development.

Specific language impairment

A specific language impairment (SLI) is a disorder that causes issues with language skills development in children. It is a condition that is not due to a known neurological, sensory, or intellectual disability.

SLIs can affect the way a child speaks, listens, reads, and writes. Specialists sometimes refer to them as developmental language disorder, language delay, or developmental dysphasia.

SLI is one of the most common developmental disorders, affecting around 7-8% of kindergarten children.

The condition can impact a person as they enter adulthood. Speech therapy can improve an individual's specific issues and help with their social and work life.

Resonance disorders

A blockage or obstruction to the regular airflow through a person's mouth as they talk can trigger a resonance disorder. These disorders alter the vibrations responsible for speaking, leading to speech becoming unclear.

Healthcare providers often associate this speaking disorder with cleft palates and other neurological disorders.

Several studies show speech therapy is an effective method for helping children and adults develop their communication skills.

One of over 700 children with speech or language difficulties shows that speech therapy had a significant positive effect.

The results show that an average of 6 hours of speech therapy over 6 months significantly improved communication performance. Speech therapy was also much more effective than no treatment over the same period.

Another looked at the effects of speech therapy on adults who had experienced a stroke and developed aphasia. The data suggest that speech therapy is effective in treating these communication issues.

The research also points to its efficacy in the early phase after a stroke, typically the first 6 months, and shows that intensive treatments have a greater effect.

Another also suggests that speech therapy can be effective in treating people with aphasia. This study shows that 16 sessions of speech therapy across eight successive weeks helped improve communication skills.

There are some alternatives to speech therapy, which a person may use alongside speech therapy. These include:

Music therapy

Music therapy involves a number of specific music-led activities. These activities use music to strengthen language, communication, and social skills. A shows it can help facilitate speech development in children.
Learn more about music therapy here.
Neurofeedback treatment

This treatment uses sensors attached to a person's scalp, which record brainwave activity. Doctors then use a screen to display this activity. The person can then learn to control their brain functions as they communicate.

It is an effective treatment for speech problems in people who have experienced a stroke. However, it may have limited long-term benefits, with the research stating it cannot conclusively prove its efficacy.

Parent-implemented language interventions

This approach involves a parent or caregiver using routines and activities to help children develop their language skills. One looked at parent-implemented language interventions with young children between 18-60 months of age.

The results showed that parents who implemented communication and language interventions had a significant, positive impact on the language skills of children with and without intellectual disabilities.

While speech and communication disorders are common in the U.S., speech therapy is proven to be an effective treatment for these disorders.

Speech therapy is effective for both children and adults, and SLPs can use various techniques to help a person improve their communication skills.

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Speech therapy: For adults, kids, and how it works

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Speech therapy provides treatment and support for people experiencing speech disorders and communication problems. The approach is useful for treating several issues in both children and adults. Speech is the expression of thoughts using articulate sounds. A speech disorder is an issue that prevents a person from communicating using spoken words.

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https://www.healthline.com/health/speech-therapy#what-to-expect

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Speech therapy is the assessment and treatment of communication problems and speech disorders. It is performed by speech-language pathologists (SLPs), which are often referred to as speech therapists.

Speech therapy techniques are used to improve communication. These include articulation therapy, language intervention activities, and others depending on the type of speech or language disorder.

Speech therapy may be needed for speech disorders that develop in childhood or speech impairments in adults caused by an injury or illness, such as stroke or brain injury.

There are several speech and language disorders that can be treated with speech therapy.

Articulation disorders. An articulation disorder is the inability to properly form certain word sounds. A child with this speech disorder may drop, swap, distort, or add word sounds. An example of distorting a word would be saying "thith" instead of "this".

Fluency disorders. A fluency disorder affects the flow, speed, and rhythm of speech. Stuttering and cluttering are fluency disorders. A person with stuttering has trouble getting out a sound and may have speech that is blocked or interrupted, or may repeat part of all of a word. A person with cluttering often speaks very fast and merges words together.

Resonance disorders. A resonance disorder occurs when a blockage or obstruction of regular airflow in the nasal or oral cavities alters the vibrations responsible for voice quality. It can also happen if the velopharyngeal valve doesn't close properly. Resonance disorders are often associated with cleft palate, neurological disorders, and swollen tonsils.

Receptive disorders. A person with receptive language disorder has trouble understanding and processing what others say. This can cause you to seem uninterested when someone is speaking, have trouble following directions, or have a limited vocabulary. Other language disorders, autism, hearing loss, and a head injury can lead to a receptive language disorder.

Expressive disorders. Expressive language disorder is difficulty conveying or expressing information. If you have an expressive disorder, you may have trouble forming accurate sentences, such as using incorrect verb tense. It's associated with developmental impairments, such as Down syndrome and hearing loss. It can also result from head trauma or a medical condition.

Cognitive-communication disorders. Difficulty communicating because of an injury to the part of the brain that controls your ability to think is referred to as cognitive-communication disorder. It can result in memory issues, problem solving, and difficulty speaking, or listening. It can be caused by biological problems, such abnormal brain development, certain neurological conditions, a brain injury, or stroke.

Aphasia. This is an acquired communication disorder that affects a person's ability to speak and understand others. It also often affects a person's ability to read and write. Stroke is the most common cause of aphasia, though other brain disorders can also cause it.

Dysarthria. This condition is characterized by slow or slurred speech due to a weakness or inability to control the muscles used for speech. It's most commonly caused by nervous system disorders and conditions that cause facial paralysis or throat and tongue weakness, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and stroke.

Speech therapy usually begins with an assessment by an SLP who will identify the type of communication disorder and the best way to treat it.

Speech therapy for children

For your child, speech therapy may take place in a classroom or small group, or one-on-one, depending on the speech disorder. Speech therapy exercises and activities vary depending on your child's disorder, age, and needs. During speech therapy for children, the SLP may:

interact through talking and playing, and using books, pictures other objects as part of language intervention to help stimulate language development

model correct sounds and syllables for a child during age-appropriate play to teach the child how to make certain sounds

provide strategies and homework for the child and parent or caregiver on how to do speech therapy at home

Speech therapy for adults

Speech therapy for adults also begins with assessment to determine your needs and the best treatment. Speech therapy exercises for adults can help you with speech, language, and cognitive communication.

Therapy may also include retraining of swallowing function if an injury or medical condition, such as Parkinson's disease or oral cancer has caused swallowing difficulties.

Exercises may involve:

problem solving, memory, and organization, and other activities geared at improving cognitive communication

conversational tactics to improve social communication

breathing exercises for resonance

exercises to strengthen oral muscles

There are many resources available if you're looking to try speech therapy exercises at home, including:

speech therapy apps

language development games and toys, such as flip cards and flash cards

workbooks

The amount of time a person needs speech therapy depends on a few factors, including:

their age

type and severity of the speech disorder

frequency of therapy

underlying medical condition

treatment of an underlying medical condition

Some speech disorders begin in childhood and improve with age, while others continue into adulthood and require long-term therapy and maintenance.

A communication disorder caused by a stroke or other medical condition may improve as with treatment and as the condition improves.

The success rate of speech therapy varies between the disorder being treated and age groups. When you start speech therapy can also have an impact on the outcome.

Speech therapy for young children has been to be most successful when started early and practiced at home with the involvement of a parent or caregiver.

Speech therapy can treat a broad range of speech and language delays and disorders in children and adults. With early intervention, speech therapy can improve communication and boost self-confidence.

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Speech Therapy: What It Is, How It Works & Why You May Need Therapy

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Speech therapy is the assessment and treatment of communication problems and speech disorders. It is performed by speech-language pathologists (SLPs), which are often referred to as speech therapists. Speech therapy techniques are used to improve communication. These include articulation therapy, language intervention activities, and others depending on the type of speech or language disorder.

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Speech therapy should be covered by insurance because of its prevalence as in 1 in every 12 kids in the United States, its effective success rates, and its high costs for the therapy itself along with its equipment required in particular cases. Although some insurances cover partial parts of the therapy sessions, most insurances only cover it if it is related to a disorder such as autism and ignores that it could be a separate issue.

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CHATTER-BOX: THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEECH THERAPY 

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CHATTER-BOX: THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEECH THERAPY 

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by Scott White
HDFS 2900 Policy Brief
December 7th 2021

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Target audience: local legislators, and insurance companies across the United States
Promote Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM), founded in 1927 by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Each May, this annual event provides an opportunity to raise awareness about hearing and speech problems (https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/features/better-hearing-and-speech-month/index.html)

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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CDC supports Better Hearing and Speech Month (BHSM), founded in 1927 by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). Each May, this annual event provides an opportunity to raise awareness about hearing and speech problems, and to encourage people to think about their own hearing and get their hearing checked.

Early identification and intervention for hearing loss is important. Many people live with unidentified hearing loss, often failing to realize that they are missing certain sounds and words. Checking one's hearing is the first step toward addressing the issue.

According to the World Health Organization's first World Report on Hearing

Noise is now being acknowledged as an important public health issue and a top environmental risk faced by the world today.

Over 50% of people aged 12-35 years listen to music via personal audio devices at volumes that pose a risk to their hearing.

A rule of the thumb for staying safe is to keep the volume below 60%.

If you frequently use personal audio devices around loud sounds: instead of turning the volume up, consider using noise cancelling earphones or headphones.

Listening through personal audio devices should not exceed 80 dB (adults) or 75 dB (sensitive users: e.g., children) for 40 hours a week.

Listeners who regularly use portable audio devices can expose themselves to the same level of sound in 15 minutes of music at 100 dB that an industrial worker would receive in an 8-hour day at 85 dB.

Did you know

The average person is born with about 16,000 hair cells within their inner ear. These cells allow your brain toto detect sounds. By the time you notice hearing loss, many hair cells have already been damaged or destroyed. You can lose 30% to 50% of hair cells before changes in your hearing can be measured by a hearing test. Damaged inner ear cells do not grow back.

In addition to damaging hair cells, noise can also damage the auditory nerve that carries information about sounds to your brain. Early damage may not show up on your hearing test.

Although there is no treatment to restore normal hearing, you can prevent hearing loss from loud sounds.

Protect your hearing! And if you already have hearing loss or are experiencing pain, discomfort, or ringing in the ears, take steps to keep it from getting worse.

Get your hearing checked.

How to protect yourself

People often voluntarily expose themselves to loud sounds through their headphones or through the stereo system in concerts, nightclubs, sporting events, and even fitness classes.

Protect your hearing when shooting a firearm. Those using firearms for recreational purpose would benefit from learning about their safe use, which includes but is not limited to use of hearing protection.

Is the noise too loud? If you need to shout to make yourself heard, then yes. And you need hearing protection such as earplugs or noise-cancelling earmuffs.

Do not listen to headphones for a long time. Turn the volume down and take periodic breaks from the noise.

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May is Better Hearing and Speech Month. Listening to music through personal listening devices at too high a volume can damage your hearing. Don't let the experience leave you with a loss. Learn how to live life at a healthy volume. http://bit.ly/2V94atu #BHSM #hearingcare #safelistening

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The topic of speech therapy interests me because my brother suffers from a speech impediment, and I was able to see firsthand how successful therapy’s effects can be.

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I believe speech therapy and its necessary accessories should be covered by health insurance because therapy sessions range from $100-$250 on average, not to mention hearing aids can range from $1,000-$6,000 for each device, depending on the level of technology.

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Should speech therapy and its necessary accessories be covered by health insurance?

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In the United States, roughly 5% of kids ages 3-17 have speech, language or voice impairment. That being said, speech therapy should be affordable and accessible to all families who seek its service. The opposing standpoint may argue that insurance does cover the therapy, but according to the Cincinnati Children’s hospital, “most children are not covered if the benefit includes only disorders resulting from accident, illness or injury.”

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According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 1 in every 12 kids between 3 and 10 have speech, language or voice impairment.

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Speech therapy is the assessment and treatment of communication problems and speech disorders according to Healthline.