How Allied Health Professionals Can Help You Reach Your Goals

Throughout your therapy journey it’s likely that you’ll come across a few different types of Allied Health Professionals. You may be referred to see a specific type of Allied Health Professional in order to support you or a family member in reaching specific goals.

At SpeechEase, we have seen many of our clients benefit from working with a multi-disciplinary team of Allied Health Professionals who collaborate to achieve desired outcomes while showing great care for the individual.

We’ve put together this short overview of Allied Health Professionals to help clarify the different ways in which Allied Health disciplines can support you or your family member’s growth, development, and quality of life. The professionals we’ve listed are the ones we find ourselves working alongside most commonly at SpeechEase.

For a full list of Allied Health Professionals (there’s 21 disciplines listed in Australia!) check out the Allied Health Professions Australia website.

 

Allied Health Professional: Speech Pathologist

To kick things off let’s explore the discipline of Speech Pathology. Speech Pathologists study, diagnose, and treat communication and swallowing disorders, including difficulties with speaking, listening, understanding language, reading, writing, social skills, stuttering, eating and using voice.

At SpeechEase, we work with both adults and children to help those with speech, swallowing, and language challenges.

Speech Pathologists can help you in the following ways:

• Supporting clear speech so that you or your loved one can be understood by others,
• Developing and refining language and expressive communication skills so that you or your loved one can clearly communicate wants and needs using multiple forms of communication (e.g. spoken, gesture, pictures, etc.),
• Understanding spoken and written communication (e.g. following various lengths and complexities of instructions),
• Pragmatics and social communication skills (e.g. turn-taking, play skills, having a conversation, appropriate responses to social situations, etc.),
• Eating a variety of foods,
• Having safe meals that align with swallowing ability.

 

Allied Health Professional: Occupational Therapist

Occupational Therapists are a branch of Allied Health Professionals that help clients to achieve optimal health and wellbeing through participation in the occupations of life.

The term ‘occupation’ is used to describe all the everyday things we do in our life, but also the things we do to be who we are, the things we do to create a meaningful life, and to engage with wider society and culture.

Occupational Therapists can help you in the following ways:

• Fine motor skills (e.g. grasping, holding a pencil, writing, using scissors),
• Hand-eye coordination,
• Visual processing (e.g. copying shoes, copying from the board),
• Independence in bathing, getting dressing, brushing teeth and feeding and everyday activities of living,
• Sensory processing,
• Emotional regulation,
• Cognitive (thinking) skills,
• Mealtime management,
• Play and social interaction skills.

  

Allied Health Professional: Physiotherapist

Physiotherapists are Allied Health Professionals who are involved in the assessment, diagnosis, planning and management of patient care relating to the body.

They can work with people of all ages to treat a broad range of health conditions. This can range from sports injuries and musculoskeletal conditions to chronic health conditions such as osteoarthritis and stroke.

Physiotherapists can help you in the following ways:

• Balance,
• Managing pain,
• Strengthening muscles,
• Increasing range of movement of joints.

 

Allied Health Professional: Psychologist

You may be surprised to learn that Psychologists are Allied Health Professionals too! Psychologists work in a variety of areas, helping people to change the way they think, feel, behave, and react.

Psychologists work with their clients by assessing and diagnosing a range of problems, developing strategies and evidence-based treatments, and offering guidance and support.

Psychologists can help you in the following ways:

• Assessment and diagnosis of mental disorders, learning disabilities and behavioural problems,
• Mental health support,
• Developing intervention strategies to support clients with mental disorders and behavioural problems,
• Providing referrals to other allied health professionals.

  

Allied Health Professional: Dietitian

Dietitians are Allied Health Professionals that are experts in food and nutrition. They provide guidance about how to appropriately manage diets and nutrition for people who may be affected by health conditions such as gastro-intestinal diseases and food allergies.

Dietitians can also provide guidance and support for those with food aversions that impact their nutritional balance and wellbeing.

Dietitians can help you in the following ways:

• Identifying poor appetite or food intake,
• Creating tailored meal plans,
• Support with food allergies,
• Guidance regarding food aversions.

 

Allied Health Professional: Allied Health Assistant

Allied Health Assistants support other health professionals including Speech Pathologists by providing therapy that helps you achieve your goals.

They may do this by being in the room while you’re seeing your primary Allied Health Professional or while you are in a session with your AHA without the primary professional present.

Allied Health Professionals can help you in the following ways:

• Making resources specific to you,
• Providing therapy in alignment with a plan set out by your treating allied health professional,
• Starting your progress report for your primary allied health professional – this can reduce the cost of reports so more of your funds can go towards therapy sessions,
• Being an extra pair of hands in the therapy session,
• Making home visits and providing therapy in a community setting.

 

Working with Allied Health Professionals

As you can see, there are plenty of different ways you can work with Allied Health Professionals as part of your therapy journey. If you’re unsure which Allied Health Professionals may be useful in helping you to achieve your unique goals, consult with your doctor or treating Speech Pathologist at SpeechEase.

To keep this information on hand, click here to download our flyer on the Allied Health Professionals covered in this article.

 

 

Disclaimer

All information is general in nature.

 

Learn more about Speech Pathologists: https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/Resources_for_the_Public/What_is_a_Speech_Pathologist/SPAweb/Resources_for_the_Public/What_is_a_Speech_Pathologist/What_is_a_Speech_Pathologist.aspx

Learn more about Occupational Therapists: https://www.otaus.com.au/about/about-ot

Learn more about Physiotherapists: https://ahpa.com.au/allied-health-professions/physiotherapy/

Learn more about Psychologists: https://psychology.org.au/

Learn more about Dietitians: https://ahpa.com.au/allied-health-professions/dietetics/