The Connections Bridgewater-Somerville Edition Sept/Oct/Nov 2019

theconnectionsnj.com Financing Available with Credit Approval Come visit our showroom! 174 Route 31, Flemington, NJ 08822 908.483.5126 - fesnj.com SALES-INSTALLATION-DESIGN-MAINTENANCE-REPAIRS RESIDENTIAL-SCHOOLS-CLUBHOUSES-HOTELS MUNICIPALITIES-WELLNESS CENTERS-GYMS 3322 Route 22 West, Suite 1207-1208, Branchburg, NJ 08876 908-218-0300 908-218-0301 (fax) www.branchburgoralsurgery.com We Accept Most Major PPO Dental Plans Karl Maloney, D.D.S. Board Certified Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon Wisdom Teeth Dental Implants Bone Grafting General Anesthesia 3D Cone Beam CT Jaw Surgery Oral Pathology Facial Trauma Although I haven’t practiced speech and language therapy for many years, my training has made me very aware of the importance of having use of these most important tools. Babies model both speech (phonetic combina- tions of articulated vowel and consonant sounds that form a word) and language (the use of words in a structured and conven- tional way). As the baby matures, she learns that if she utters some- thing resembling “cookie,” she will most probably be rewarded with a cookie. As she gets older, she may learn that if she wants a cookie and a glass of milk, she may need to express a more com- plex combination of utterances, such as “may I have cookies and milk, please?” As we mature, we use speech and language to manipulate our environment to attain more and meet our needs. Our world grows from this manipulation, and we read, we listen, we experiment and we imitate. Moving from one job to another, we may learn nomenclature that had been unknown before we entered the field. And then, the aging process slows us down, and we find our- selves frustrated and unwilling to use our language that has served us well in the past. Not wanting to make a mistake, we may use the first word that comes to mind, although it may not be the one which we wanted to use. “Senior moments” as we refer to them, become more and more familiar, and we choose to pull out of situations that may cause embarrassment. Enter the Speech and Language Therapist who is trained to assist with the cognition necessary to help seniors feel more comfort- able communicating. Speaking and listening are skills that can certainly be improved, and condi- tioning to do so is a goal worth achieving. This may be in the form of practicing sentence structure, something our seniors possibly remember from Grammar classes. Or it may be a reinforcement of their familiar names and places. Reviewing family and activities will provide pattern in the brain to help “grasp” the words that will help the senior more readily achieve what they want. There is so much the aging process takes from us, but our speech and language need not be one of them. Communication enriches our lives! It is the tool we most need when socializing with peers. To that point, Group Living helps to keep seniors interested in others, and that is a basic need we must help our parents achieve. The confidence our par- ents have that they can converse with and be of interest to others is an amazing and extremely ben- eficial gift for everyone! SPEECH AND LANGUAGE: SO IMPORTANT FOR SENIORS By: Ellyn Mantell PAGE 20 Health & Wellness