Speech and language therapy assesses and treats problems with speaking, understanding, voice, fluency and swallowing in children and adults. Therapists work with late-talking toddlers, people recovering from stroke, professional voice users and patients after head and neck cancer.
Therapy is based on practice: frequent, specific exercises in the language you actually use. Progress is real but gradual, and results depend on the cause, the intensity of practice and, for children, how much parents carry the work into daily life.
Conditions this service looks after
- Delayed speech and language development in children
- Speech sound disorders and unclear articulation
- Stammering
- Aphasia after stroke or brain injury
- Dysarthria from Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis or motor neurone disease
- Voice disorders such as nodules, muscle tension dysphonia and vocal cord paralysis
- Swallowing difficulty (dysphagia)
- Communication needs in autism, cleft palate and hearing loss
Tests you may be offered
- Case history and observation: Development, medical background, languages spoken at home and how communication works day to day.
- Standardised language and articulation tests: Compare skills with age norms; they must be in the person's own language to be valid.
- Hearing test: Always checked in a child with delayed speech.
- Aphasia batteries: Map strengths and weaknesses in naming, comprehension, reading and writing.
- Videofluoroscopy and FEES: X-ray or endoscopic swallow studies showing whether food or drink enters the airway.
- Laryngoscopy with stroboscopy: Performed with an ENT doctor to view vocal cord vibration.
Treatments available
- Child language intervention: Play-based therapy plus parent coaching; parents deliver most of the practice.
- Articulation and phonology therapy: Teaches sound production step by step.
- Fluency therapy: Lidcombe programme for young children; speech restructuring and CBT-informed work for adults.
- Aphasia therapy: Intensive, repetitive language practice and communication partner training.
- LSVT LOUD: A four-week intensive voice programme for Parkinson's disease.
- Voice therapy: Vocal hygiene, resonance and breath techniques, before or after vocal cord surgery.
- Swallowing rehabilitation: Exercises, posture strategies and texture modification to reduce aspiration.
When to ask for a specialist opinion
- A child has no words by 18 months or no two-word phrases by 2 and a half years
- Speech is hard for strangers to understand after age 4
- Hoarseness lasts more than 3 weeks, which first needs an ENT examination
- Coughing or choking when eating or drinking
- Speech or language changes after a stroke or head injury
Travelling to Türkiye for this care
Therapy must be in the language the person lives in, and it runs for weeks to months, so it rarely justifies travel by itself. Exceptions are an intensive block inside a stroke rehabilitation stay, a specialist swallow or voice assessment alongside ENT treatment, and families who speak Turkish or another language offered by the therapist. For children, continuity near home and school is what counts. Online sessions can continue a programme after an in-person start.
Send your reports, scans and a short history and a Clinic-Y coordinator replies within 24 hours with suitable teams and written, all-inclusive proposals side by side. Reviewing your case is free.
الأسئلة المتكررة
Does bilingualism cause speech delay?
No. Bilingual children may mix languages and split vocabulary between them, but total language develops on time. A true delay shows in both languages.
How long does therapy take?
From a few sessions for a simple sound error to many months for aphasia or developmental language disorder.
Can adults improve years after a stroke?
Yes. Intensive aphasia therapy can help even in the chronic phase.