Foreign speakers address speech pathologists

The Malta Association of Speech - Language Pathologists recently invited two foreign speakers to give presentations to members and non-members of the association. The venue for both events was the Barclays' conference hall at the Malta Federation of Professional Associations premises at Gzira.

Marianne Jessen, a clinical linguist who lectures at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, gave an outline on the care and management of the patient with swallowing problems. Dysphagia - a difficulty in swallowing generally associated with neurological conditions in children and adults, is one area of expertise for the Speech - Language Pathologist in Malta.

Over the past few years, there has been increasing demand for the Speech - Language Pathologist to contribute in the assessment and management of these patients, particularly during their rehabilitation in acute settings, such as hospitals.

Piet Ceuppens, who lectures at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, discussed at a separate event "Successful early intervention in hearing impairment". Dr Ceuppens illustrated the ALGO project, in which all newborn infants are screened for hearing loss at the age of four weeks, using automatic auditory brainstem response audiometry.

This enables rehabilitation to start as early as at three months of age. This is particularly significant in the case of hearing impaired children, where the early fitting of a cochlear implant or hearing aids may carry major implications on their ability to acquire adequate speech and language.

The Malta Association of Speech - Language Pathologists was established in Malta in 1984. It is affiliated locally to the Malta Federation of Professional Associations and internationally with the International Association of Logopaedics and Phoniatrics (USA).

More information may be obtained by accessing the Malta Association of Speech - Language Pathologists' webpage.

www.mfpa.org.mt