Introduction

Speech therapy is a field of medical sciences, which belongs to the subdivision of rehabilitation. This field focuses on various aspects of language and speech disorders, as well as their diagnosis and treatment. Adequate skills in this regard requires the knowledge of basic concepts, including anatomy, speech mechanism physiology, linguistics and phonetics, psychology and psychotherapy, in addition to the specialized courses of speech and language disorders pathology, evaluation and therapy.

There is a wide array of speech and language disorders, which emerge during childhood and adulthood. Some of these problems include stutter, articulation disorders, language and speech disorders in children with language learning disabilities and hearing problems, mental retardation and autism, and patients with stroke and speech disorders/dysphagia associated with lack of larynx and its damages.

It is noteworthy that any problems in speech or inability to understand others’ speech could lead to social life disruptions and block the success and nourishment of the individual, which in turn gives rise to emotional issues, such as social isolation and aggression. Ultimately, these disorders might threaten the mental health of the individual and family. 

 By identifying the influential factors in the development of speech, tongue and swallowing, the graduates of speech therapy will be able to educate the community in terms of preventing the occurrence or intensification of language and speech disorders. Furthermore, they will be engaged in counseling to preserve communication skills. They will also optimize the treatment of language, tongue and swallowing disorders by detecting the associated features and syndromes.

Correspondingly, the graduates of speech therapy play a pivotal role in the prevention, evaluation and counseling in several healthcare centers (hospitals and clinics), consultation centers, normal and special schools and universities.

Background of Speech Therapy in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS):

In MUMS, the field of speech therapy was officially founded in the academic year of 2009-2010 with the admission of the first group of students for the BSc degree in February. To date, several classes have graduated the field, and the current student body is approximately 100.

The Department of Speech Therapy has presently three full-time faculty members with a PhD degree, as well as two PhD scholarship owners of speech therapy, two MSc experts, five experts in the department and a number of MSc experts who teach on-tuition.

In addition to the qualified personnel and adequate workforce, exclusive foreign funds have been allocated to the purchase of laboratory equipment in the Department of Speech Therapy during the past few years; some of the purchased devices include CSL, Visipitch and Nasometer.  

Laboratory of speech and voice of the Department of Speech Therapy is located in Ghaem Hospital of Mashhad (affiliated to MUMS), which has equipment such as CSL, Visipitch and Nasometer. Students can use these devices in voice analysis for research and treatment purposes. Moreover, a stroboscope is being purchased by the research grant of the members.