Speech Problems in the Aging

Abstract

Many geriatric patients with speech, voice and language problems can be helped to reduce or overcome them. Although not all older persons can benefit from speech help, age per se is not the determining factor. Language and speech retraining procedures, which do not differ in kind from those used with younger patients, may be significantly efficacious with older patients, representing as they do an optimistic effort on the part of the patients' associates to help them make their lives richer and to combat frustration, withdrawal and silence.