Alison Hawkes - Progressive Neurological Diseases
I’m Alison, a specialist speech and language therapist (SLT) working with people who have progressive neurological diseases.
Progressive neurological diseases include conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington’s disease, Multiple Systems Atrophy, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Ataxia. These can cause a person to have difficulties with their ability to communicate and/or swallow which can gradually get worse.
As a speech therapist, I am involved with multi-professional teams across and beyond the county to ensure seamless care. Members of the wider team include occupational therapists, physiotherapists, dieticians, specialist nurses, consultants, other speech and language therapists, palliative teams and adult social care.
As experts in communication, speech and language therapists often perform or facilitate capacity assessments to help with decision making in those with communication difficulties. Speech and language therapists are especially involved with enabling a person to make a decision around eating and drinking as some may lose the ability to eat and drink safely.
Some people may choose to carry on eating and drinking for quality of life whereas others may decide to have a long term feeding tube as eating and drinking can be distressing or uncomfortable, or they may not be able to eat enough.
With some conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, a speech and language therapist can offer effective evidence-based speech therapy to improve communication. However, as these conditions progressively get worse over time and cause a person to fatigue quickly, we often focus on AAC (Augmentative Alternative Communication).
SLTs can implement equipment such as Boogie Boards (what I like to call a grown-up ‘Etch-a-sketch’), iPads with personalised speaking apps and eye-gaze technology (actual magic!). I also help people set up ‘voice banking’ where they are able to record their own voice, so it can be used with high-tech AAC in the future if they lose the ability to speak.
The best part of my job is seeing how happy someone is when they are able to communicate with those around them. It’s unbelievably fulfilling to know that I’ve supported someone to find their voice again.
Being involved with this patient group enables you to develop close relationships and being able to support them is incredibly rewarding for me. I love seeing the difference speech and language therapy can make.