Speech & Language Therapy

Our expert SLTs work with you and specialist consultants to assess and support changes in speech, language, swallowing and cognitive communication skills caused by a broad range of neurological conditions. These include:

• Stroke
• Brain tumour
• Hypoxic brain injury
• Head injury or traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Guillain-Barré syndrome
• Hydrocephalus
• Parkinson’s disease
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Multiple sclerosis (MS)
• Motor neuron disease (MND)
• Spinal cord injury

Depending on your condition, you may experience aphasia (difficulty understanding or using words), dysarthria (slurred speech), apraxia (difficulty coordinating speech), dysphagia (swallowing issues) or cognitive communication impairments (challenges with memory, attention or problem-solving).

Our team also offers a vocational rehabilitation service to support your return to work.

Surgical and neurosurgical care

Working with your wider care team, our SLTs can help manage changes in speech, voice and swallowing that may occur after:

• Brain surgery
• Awake craniotomy

During an awake craniotomy, your SLT will work with you throughout the operation. They will assess your ability to speak, understand and communicate, helping your surgical team protect these important functions. They will also support your recovery after the procedure.

Acute communication and swallowing assessments

Our SLTs support people in our Acute Admissions Unit (AAU) who experience swallowing and communication difficulties caused by sudden illness, such as respiratory or gastrointestinal infections, frailty or delirium.  

They also play an important role in our intensive care unit (ICU) providing early assessment and rehabilitation for swallowing and communication difficulties that may arise during recovery. This includes supporting people who are critically unwell, such as those with complex health needs, a tracheostomy or who need support from a ventilator.

Being able to communicate and eat and drink safely is a vital part of everyday life. That’s why our expert SLTs work closely with consultants, nurses and other specialists to provide personalised care that is tailored to your needs.

Meet our SLTs and learn more about their expertise.

• Katrina Clarkson: Katrina leads our SLT team and specialises in acquired brain injury, prolonged disorders of consciousness and tracheostomy management. She is also an advanced practitioner in FEES and VFS.
• Emma Cormack: Emma specialises in neurorehabilitation, including stroke, brain injury and progressive neurological conditions, across hospital and clinic settings.
• Jaimini Joshi: Jaimini is a specialist therapist working on our rehabilitation unit with a focus on evidence-based practice and compassionate care. She is experienced in managing complex swallowing and communication disorders, including conducting instrumental assessments of swallowing.
• Akshya (Aki) Bhanotha: Aki has experience in critical care, acute medicine and neurosurgery. She specialises in tracheostomy and ventilator management, instrumental swallowing assessments and acute rehabilitation of communication disorders that occur after neurosurgery.
• Megan Lang: Megan specialises in post-acute rehabilitation and the assessment and management of communication and swallowing impairments in neurological conditions, with a focus on patient-centred care.
• Joyce Nahed: Joyce is a bilingual English-Arabic speech and language therapist with experience working across diverse cultural backgrounds. She assesses and treats communication and swallowing impairments across our rehabilitation and acute wards. Joyce is also LSVT LOUD trained, the gold-standard treatment for people with Parkinson’s disease.

You will first meet with our specialist speech and language therapy team to discuss your medical history and symptoms. They may then recommend a range of tests depending on your needs.

Tests for communication problems

Our speech and language therapists use various formal and informal tests and screenings to evaluate:

• How clearly you speak
• How well you understand spoken and written language
• How you express yourself, both verbally and in writing
• The structure and muscles of your jaw, mouth and tongue

Your speech and language therapist may also want to assess you in real-life situations, such as how you use spoken language to order coffee in a café.

Tests for swallowing difficulties

If you are having trouble swallowing, our team may recommend:

• Fibreoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES): A thin, flexible camera (endoscope) is passed through your nose to view your throat while you eat and drink, helping us see how you swallow.
• Videofluoroscopy (VFS): In this procedure, you eat and drink items containing a contrast liquid called barium, while X-rays track how food and fluid move through your mouth and throat.

Speech Therapy Treatments at Cleveland Clinic London

Our specialist speech and language therapists use a variety of tools and techniques to treat communication and swallowing disorders. These typically focus on improving coordination between your brain and mouth to support communication and swallowing.

Therapy may begin in hospital after illness or surgery and continue after discharge as an outpatient either in person or virtually. Depending on your needs and goals, we offer:

• Support for language and communication: Including use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and computer- or video-assisted therapy
• Support for speech: Including articulation practise, use of expiratory muscle strength training and Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT)
• Swallowing support: Including practical strategies, dietary recommendations, exercises to make eating and drinking safer and more manageable, and pharyngeal electrical stimulation where appropriate   
• Voice therapy: Including breathing techniques, vocal exercises and guidance on vocal health to help manage voice difficulties associated with neurological conditions

Paying for Speech and Language Therapy at Cleveland Clinic London

We make it easy to pay for speech and language therapy at Cleveland Clinic London. You can choose to self-pay, and we accept most private medical insurance plans. You’ll always receive a clear, detailed cost estimate before treatment.

What’s Next?

Speech, language and swallowing difficulties can feel overwhelming, but with the right support, your outlook can improve. Our specialist SLTs provide personalised therapy and ongoing support to help you communicate more clearly, manage swallowing problems safely and effectively, and feel more confident in your day-to-day life.