Speech and Language Pathology Services

Care for Speech, Language, Hearing, Balance, Feeding, and Swallowing Disorders

 

It is our mission to improve the quality of life for our patients of all ages with communication challenges in speech, language, hearing, and listening. We also provide assessment and intervention services related to balance and feeding deficits. As a not-for-profit, university health care center, we are proud to serve our community with the most affordable and personalized care. Our audiology and speech language pathology providers combine their extensive clinical expertise with current research-based practices when treating our patients in a state-of-the art clinical environment.

Treatments



  • Auditory perceptual evaluation
  • Auditory-verbal therapy

  • Behavioral management (systematic & eclectic approaches)

  • Fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES)

  • Flow phonation

  • Laryngeal function evaluation

  • Lee Silverman Voice Therapy (LSVT)

  • Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT®)

  • Pronouncing English as a Second Language (PESL)

  • Resonant voice therapy

  • Respiratory retraining

  • School Age Speech and Language Clinic

  • Vital stim therapy

  • Vocal function exercises

  • Vocal hygiene

  • Voice management for the transgender population


Locations

Photo of Center for Audiology & Speech-Language PathologyCenter for Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology

Nave  Language Center

1000 Jason Witten Way, Elizabethton, TN, 37643

Providers

Services

  • The Nave Language Center
    The Nave Language Center provides specialized evaluation and treatment for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and related communication and social pragmatic disorders. The premise of the Nave Language Center ASD clinic is to provide direct services using naturalistic interactions and environments, evidence-based interventions, visual supports, augmentative and alternative communication modalities, and environmental arrangement to best support learning and sensory needs of the clients. The clinic highly values family support and training to generalize skills outside of the intervention setting. This clinic is its own free-standing building in Elizabethon, approximately 12 minutes from the ETSU Clinic.
  • The Positive Eating Program
    The Positive Eating Program is designed for children with behavioral and sensory based feeding challenges including children with and without specific medical diagnosis. The goals of the program are to increase food awareness, decrease anxiety to new food textures and types, provide consistent and appropriate mealtime behaviors and for comprehensive parent training and collaboration to facilitate generalization of new feeding behaviors across context. Additionally, participation in cultivating a vegetable garden exposes children to different sensory experiences and foods. The program is appropriate for infants to elementary school.
  • Adult Speech & Language Clinic
    This clinic focuses on the evaluation and treatment of the young adult, adult and geriatric populations with speech, language and/or cognitive disorders. Clinicians use standardized and non-standardized assessments and a variety of evidence based techniques to help their clients maximize functional communication and daily living independence. Select clinicians are also certified in Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT).
  • School-Age Speech & Language Clinic
    The ETSU School-Age Speech and Language Clinic provides specialized evaluation and treatment for preschool-school-aged children with communication disorders. The premise of the School-Age Speech and Language clinic is to provide direct services using naturalistic interactions and evidence-based interventions to best support client and family needs.  Furthermore, the clinic highly values family support and training to facilitate generalization of skills. The School-Age Speech and Language Clinic addresses the needs of children in the following areas, including but not limited to: speech sound disorders, language based disorders, literacy based language disorders, social communication challenges, and use of augmentative-alternative communication.
  • Voice Clinic

    A voice disorder, also called dysphonia, is an impairment of the speaking or singing voice in that it arises from an abnormality of the structures and/or functions of the voice production system resulting in voice functioning that is unacceptable to the user in social, professional, or other contexts (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2005).

    Common symptoms of voice problems include: 

    • Hoarse, weak, and/or rough voice
    • Loss of voice
    • Decreased pitch range
    • Globus sensation 
    • Vocal fatigue/tiredness of voice
    • Shortness of breath while speaking
    • Constant throat clearing
    • Strain/effort to produce voice
    • Pain or discomfort in neck while speaking

    Common voice disorders are:

    • Structural pathology, specifically, vocal fold lesions (nodules, cysts, polyps)
    • Inflammatory conditions (voice changes secondary to acid reflux, laryngitis)
    • Muscle tension dysphonia
    • Maturational and age related changes (Presbylarngis, Puberphonia)
    • Neurologic conditions affecting voice (vocal fold immobility- paralysis, Parkinson’s Disease, Spasmodic Dysphonia)
    • Upper Airway conditons (Exercise induced laryngeal obstruction- AKA Paradoxical vocal fold movement- PVFM

    The voice clinic offers the following evaluations and treatment:

    Evaluations
    Complete behavioral evaluation of voice including:
    • Auditory Perceptual Evaluation
    • Laryngeal Function Evaluation, including acoustic and physiological measures
    Treatment
    • Behavioral management (systematic & eclectic approaches)
    • Vocal Hygiene
    • Resonant Voice Therapy
    • Vocal Function Exercises
    • Flow Phonation
    • Respiratory Retraining
    • Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT®) for patients with Parkinson's Disease
    • Voice management for the transgender population



  • Speech and Swallowing Clinic

    The Speech and Swallowing Clinic at ETSU is focused on addressing the speech and swallowing needs of adults in the Tri-Cities area. Services include: 

    • Lee Silverman Voice Therapy (LSVT)
    • Pronouncing English as a Second Language (PESL) Accent Modification
    • Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES)

    Treatment techniques that may be used to assess, diagnose and treat include:

    • FEES
    • LSVT
    • Vital Stim
    • Biofeedback via Electropalatography
    • Auscultation

    The Speech and Swallowing Clinic addresses the needs of adults diagnosed with motor speech disorder or swallowing difficulty due to:

    • Stroke
    • Cancer
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Parkinson’s
    • ALS
  • Gary Shealy Memorial ALS Clinic

    The Gary Shealy Memorial ALS Clinic is an interprofessional clinic that aims to address the complex needs of adults with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). This once-monthly clinic serves as a place where people with ALS can see a variety of medical and rehabilitation professionals.  Recommendations and referrals are made regarding strategies to help patients maintain safety and independence as well as for necessary equipment and/or procedures. 

    Please visit the ALS Clinic webpage for more information.

  • Neonatal High-Risk Follow-up Clinic

    The NICU High-Risk Follow-up Clinic is an interprofessional clinic focused on holistic assessment of infants and toddlers discharged from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Niswonger Children’s Hospital. The purpose of the clinic is early identification of developmental and health concerns and appropriate referral to medical specialists and intervention services in families’ local communities.


    The interprofessional assessment team includes: SLP, Audiology, PT, Nutrition, Nursing, and Neonatology.
    The team conducts a holistic evaluation through medical chart review, interview, observation, and use of standardized assessment tools. For example, the speech-language pathologist examines the domains of receptive and expressive communication, cognition, social-emotional, and adaptive behavior skills using the Developmental Assessment of Young Children-2.


    This clinic addresses infants and toddlers, aged 0-24 months, with a wide-range of developmental profiles and health challenges, including:

    • Typical development, with catch-up growth associated with prematurity
    • Swallowing and feeding disorders
    • Developmental delays and disorders
    • Genetic syndromes
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Neonatal abstinence syndrome


    The clinic is held at ETSU Pediatrics.

  • Social Group Clinic

     ETSU’s Speech and Language Clinic provides evaluation and treatment for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder to enhance social pragmatic skills. Treatment for social communication capitalizes strengths of each individual while addressing weaknesses related to social interaction. Treatment strategies in a social group clinic focus on increasing active engagement amongst peers, building independence in natural communication environments, and generalization of these skills outside of a therapy setting. Social group clinic recognizes the importance of involving the individual and the family to enhance functional outcomes. Social group clinics at ETSU typically consist of 2-4 individuals of a similar age with social communication deficits. ETSU’s Speech and Language Clinic provides social group clinics for children between the ages of 3 and 16. Some of our treatment methods include social stories, social scripts, and video modeling.

  • Telehealth Clinic

    The Telehealth Clinic within the ETSU Speech Language and Hearing Clinic focuses on the evaluation and treatment speech, language and/or cognitive disorders in the adult population. This clinic was design to serve those who do not have access to a qualified Speech-Language Pathologist due to geographic, physical or social reasons. Clinicians are housed within the ETSU Speech Language and Hearing Clinic while clients are at a remote site (e.g., their homes, rural health office).  Clinical services are provided in real time via a secure video chat platform.

  • Auditory-Verbal Therapy Clinic

    Aural rehabilitation services are provided for individuals across the lifespan who are deaf or hard of hearing. These services are appropriate for individuals seeking intervention to “relearn” listening and language skills, following a hearing loss that occurred after development of language skills, with the assistance of hearing technology. A variety of modalities and evidence-based strategies may be used to improve communication skills through these intervention services.

Why ETSU Health?

The SLP program serves as a center for excellence in providing direct clinical services and community education and outreach programs. Through these activities, the program strives to improve the quality of life for individuals affected by speech, language, hearing and balance challenges across the life span.


Billing & Financial Assistance

Insurance Patients: The clinic accepts private insurance including Medicare and Medicaid. The patient is responsible for checking with their insurance plan if their plan covers evaluations and treatment at our clinic, including getting prior authorization if the need be. Medicare and Medicaid patients must have a physician referral in order for the clinic to bill your insurance. If you do not have a physician referral, you will be responsible for the billed charges if they are denied by your insurance company. Insurance patients will receive a statement after the insurance has processed the claim

Cash Pay Patients: Patients without insurance selecting the cash pay program may also be eligible for a sliding fee scale based upon their annual income. In order to be eligible, patients must apply for a sliding fee scale by completing a Fee Assistance Form. Please email Ms. Freda Buck, clinic site coordinator, by emailing buckfm@etsu.edu or calling (423) 439-4355.

The Clinic shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of its activities or operation. Clients have the right to file a complaint against the Clinic or the Department of Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology through the Council of Academic Accreditation of the American Speech Language Hearing Association. The complaint process can be found by clicking here.

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