What does it take to maintain STRONG CLEAR speech in Parkinson’s?

The research is clear that EXERCISE is one of the most powerful treatments for Parkinson’s. This applies to VOICE and SPEECH exercise as well!

Daily, Parkinson’s specific speech and voice exercises can help slow the decline of speech, voice and swallowing issues. So what do the experts recommend? A minimum of 20 minutes daily of speech exercises including:

  • Breathing Exercises – practice deep belly breaths to
    safely power louder speech
  • Vocal Amplitude Exercises (long, loud sustained vowels
    such as AHHHH, OHHHHH, EEEEEEE, OOOOO)
  • Pitch Exercises (gliding up and down on vowels,
    sirening, singing, humming)
  • Articulation Exercises – exaggerating mouth
    movements when speaking i.e. on tongue twisters or
    when reading aloud
  • Facial Exercises to fight against facial masking
  • Cognitive/Linguistic Exercises to help maintain word
    retrieval skills and mental acuity

REMEMBER … the key is to make every exercise you do BIG and EXAGGERATED. Parkinson’s is the disease of LOW AMPLITUDE. It makes you FEEL like you’re making big steps, big arm swing, big voice … but it’s tricking you!

Take home message: When doing your speech and voice exercises … think BIG!

Click here for: SPEAK OUT!® Parkinson’s Speech & Voice Exercises – MAKE SOME NOISE!

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Sarah Awde, M.Cl.Sc., Reg.CASLPO
Speech-Language Pathologist