The 3 differences between speech therapy and phoniatrics
Speech is a skill that must be developed throughout life, and that is one of the main methods that human beings have to communicate with each other. Sometimes this learning can be harmed, not achieved correctly or even lost in the presence of various injuries and diseases.
That is why it is necessary to figure as specialists in this area, such as speech therapists and speech therapists. However, it is possible that the functions that make different and these professionals are not known. Therefore, in this article, we are going to observe the differences between speech therapy and phoniatrics .
- Related article: "The 8 types of speech disorders"
Defining the terms of these professions
First, to analyze the differences between the two professions, it is necessary to analyze what each one supposes.
Speech therapy is a discipline focused on the study and treatment of the problems of oral language and the elements that allow it . It starts from a perspective that seeks diagnosis and rehabilitation from the application of measures and techniques based on the patient learns to communicate correctly overcoming or compensating for the effect of a disorder, illness or difficulty.
With regard to phoniatrics, it is understood as the branch of medicine specialized in disorders of oral communication, phonation and hearing , and in general, of other forms of communication. The phoniatrist is a doctor with the ability to diagnose and treat different disorders such as the presence of malformations, dysglossias and dysarthria, aphasias and sensory and motor problems linked to speech.
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Main differences between speech therapy and phoniatrics
As we have seen, both disciplines have a series of points in which they resemble each other to a great extent, but there are also a series of differences between them that we will analyze next.
1. Training
The speech therapist is a professional who has been trained at the university level in language and communication , possessing a wide knowledge of human and language communication, as well as the processes and areas that allow it.
As regards the phoniatrist, he is a specialist doctor in the language sector. Your field of knowledge is therefore more linked to the medical and biological aspects , although it also has knowledge and can apply different types of intervention. In Spain, speech therapy is a specialty not recognized at the university level, while speech therapy is.
2. Orientation
Based on the previous point we can observe that the two types of professionals tend to have a distinctive orientation. While the phoniatrician has a more biomedical perspective of the situation and the disorders, speech therapy exercises from a more educational and pedagogical perspective .
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3. Type of treatment used
The phoniatrist can apply a large number of treatments, including drug administration or the prescription of speech therapy sessions, but usually does not make a practical application of these directly.
The speech therapist will be in charge of administering and carrying out the treatment, at the level of introduce and perform the rehabilitation of the patient through various techniques more focused on learning and performing exercises that allow improvement and that have nothing to do with more drastic and invasive measures.
Different but similar
Phoniatrics and speech therapy are disciplines that present differences and that do not act in the same way or have the same competencies.
But despite these differences, the truth is that we can see that in both cases we are facing qualified professionals who seek to improve patients and whose field of work specializes in human oral communication . Generally both sanitary disciplines go hand in hand, helping those with language and communication problems to be able to freely express themselves again.
