Parkinson Voice Project Speak Out

About The Parkinson Voice Project

Parkinson’s Speech Exercises with Julie Drinan from the Dallas VA in Dallas, TX!

Parkinson Voice Project is the only 501 nonprofit organization in the world solely dedicated to helping individuals with Parkinsons improve their speech and swallowing. The organization runs a speech therapy clinic in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and hosts the Worlds Largest Parkinsons Chorus.

Parkinson Voice Project hosts daily online speech practice sessions to support and encourage people with Parkinsons globally. These sessions are available on the organizations website.

Parkinson Voice Project has trained more than 3500 speech-language pathologists in its SPEAK OUT!®& LOUD Crowd® program, including clinicians in Australia, Canada, Israel, Italy, Greece, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Parkinson Voice Project: Speak Out & Loud Crowd

What is SPEAK OUT!®?

Nine out of ten people with Parkinson’s are at risk of developing a weak voice that can lead to serious speech and swallowing issues. Parkinson Voice Project has developed a program that combines education and individual speech therapy sessions that focus on learning to speak with intent while completing speech, voice, and cognitive exercises designed specifically for individuals with Parkinson disease. SPEAK OUT® is usually completed in 8-12 sessions spanning four-six weeks, and then the client transitions to the LOUD CROWD® portion of the program.

LOUD CROWD® is the group therapy portion of the program and meets once weekly. These sessions provide maintenance therapy so patients retain skills mastered during SPEAK OUT!®, and provides accountability, camaraderie, education, and support for all members.

To learn more about the SPEAK OUT!® and LOUD CROWD® visit their website:

When and where can I receive services?

SPEAK OUT!® is generally offered twice a week on Monday and Wednesday mornings. All sessions occur at the VSU Speech-Language & Hearing Clinic located on the first floor of the Health Sciences and Business Administration Building.

Health Sciences and Business Administration Building
Mailing Address

What Costs Are Associated With These Services

DV Therapy will bill your insurance for SPEAK OUT!® services. Please check with your insurance to learn more about what co-pays may be associated with speech therapy services. SPEAK OUT!® can also be provided through private pay/out-of-pocket options.

For more information, please visit Parkinson Voice Projects website at the link below.

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Adapting For A Worldwide Reach

Sticking with Elandarys initial goal of providing therapy to any patient who needs it, regardless of means, the organization adopted its nonprofit model in 2005. All patients get free training. When they finish, they are encouraged to pay it forward by donating to the charity.

Pam Cogburn, a speech therapist at Parkinson Voice Project in Dallas, works with patient Gay Gilmore on a voice-strengthening exercise.

Elandary began a pilot project in 2012 to train two Oklahoma speech therapists so they could replicate the program. Seven years later, 35 Oklahoma speech language pathologists have been trained by the project. In addition, more than 900 Parkinsons patients have been treated, and 15 Loud Crowd groups have formed at five hospitals.

Japanese therapists became the programs first non-U.S. participants in 2013.

But the biggest step in accelerating the advocacy groups growth worldwide was creating the online training course.

It was the hardest project Ive ever done, but it is the one that has finally gotten us making some headway, Elandary said. It started with her writing a 250-page script, which the charitys medical advisory board checked to make sure the neurology was right.

Then it needed to be filmed and professionally voiced over. Four years and $100,000 later, it was ready.

The online course teaches speech therapists both how to work with patients on exercises, and how to motivate them.

Parkinson Voice Project Awards 2022 Speak Out & Loud Crowd Grant To Idaho State University

Parkinson Voice Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the voices of individuals with Parkinsons, has named Idaho State University as a recipient of its 2022 SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd Grant Program.

Grant recipients include hospitals, universities, private practices, and other speech therapy clinics across the United States and abroad. Each clinic receives speech therapy workbooks and free training for their speech-language pathologists and graduate students. Idaho State University is committed to offering Parkinson Voice Projects SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd program to their Parkinsons community.

Up to 90% of people with Parkinsons are at risk of losing their ability to speak. In addition, swallowing complications account for 70% of the mortality rate in this patient population. Our vision at Parkinson Voice Project is to make quality speech therapy accessible to people with Parkinsons worldwide, said Samantha Elandary, Parkinson Voice Projects Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

This grant program honors the late Daniel R. Boone, Ph.D., a world-renowned speech-language pathologist who recognized in the 1950s that individuals with Parkinson’s could improve their communication by speaking with intent.” Parkinson Voice Projects highly effective speech therapy program is based on Boones teachings and combines education for the patient and family, along with individual and group speech therapy.

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What Are Common Causes Of Parkinsons

About 90% of people with Parkinsons will experience speech difficulty. A common characteristic of Parkinsons is smaller movements. Besides smaller walking and smaller writing, people with Parkinsons tend to use smaller movements when speaking. In other words, they take a smaller breath, move their vocal folds in a smaller way, and produce small movements of the lips and tongue. Even their facial movements are smaller. With these small movements, people with Parkinsons are not using their speech muscles to full capacity. As a result, the speech mechanism becomes weak and uncoordinated. If left untreated, speech challenges can develop into life-threatening swallowing complications.

The early symptoms of a speech disorder associated with Parkinsons are:

Inconsistent production of the voice

How Much Does Speak Out And Loud Crowd Cost

The Center for Communication Disorders provides clinical experiences for graduate and undergraduate students who are preparing to become Speech Language Pathologists. Student clinicians deliver all speech therapy services and are supervised by licensed Speech Language Pathologists, holding their Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech and Hearing Association, as well as the State of Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services.

As a participant in our SPEAK OUT! and LOUD Crowd programs, you are partnering with UWEC to train the next generation of Speech Language Pathologists. We do not charge for SPEAK OUT! or LOUD Crowd sessions. Your partnership in our program is highly valued and we are proud to offer this service to our community.

SPEAK OUT! and LOUD Crowd therapy programs were developed by the Parkinson Voice Project in Richardson, Texas. The Center for Communication Disorders at UWEC is a proud grant recipient.

What Usually Happens During A Speech Therapy Appointment

In speech therapy, the speech-language pathologist and the family will determine which cue will be the most effective for each patient. Every person with Parkinsons is different, so the best cue will be different, too. It all depends on the severity of the speech disorder. Again, early intervention is important. When we speak with intent, we activate a motor system that is not as dependent on dopamine. This is important because people with Parkinsons lack dopamine.

Speaking with intent means to focus, concentrate, be purposeful, and be deliberate. It is crucial that both patients and their families understand intent as it relates to Parkinsons.

Speech Treatment For Parkinson’s Patients

Four Patients Before & After SPEAK OUT! Treatment

Adults with Parkinsons are invited to take part in a free speech therapy program that improves voice volume and quality of speech.

The ASU Speech and Hearing Clinic is partnering with The Parkinson Voice Project to offer a specially developed two-part therapy program called SPEAK OUT!® and LOUD Crowd®. This program emphasizes speaking louder and with intent, techniques that can help adults with Parkinsons be more easily understood while also improving their physical health since a weak voice can lead to serious speech and swallowing issues.

Parkinson Voice Project Awards 2021 Speak Out & Loud Crowd Grant To University Of Mary

BISMARCK For the second straight year the University of Mary Speech Language Pathology program is the recipient of a national grant that benefits students and their patients. Parkinson Voice Project, a 501 nonprofit organization, has awarded University of Marys SLP program its 2021 SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd Grant Program.

The Speech-Language Pathology Department at the University of Mary offers a bachelors degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a masters degree in SLP. The department graduated its first class in April 2020. These graduates have obtained employment both locally and nationally. The profession of Speech-Language Pathology continues to experience rapid growth with increased need for professionals. Speech-Language Pathologists serve individuals across the life span, targeting communication and swallowing abilities including speech, language, voice, stuttering, feeding, and swallowing, social language, and cognition. SLPs work in many different settings such as public schools, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and private practice.

In the upcoming 2021 2022 academic year, there are 16 students starting their first year in the SLP program and 16 students in the second-year cohort graduating in the spring of 2022.

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Do You Have Tips For A Person With Parkinsons Who Struggles To Be Heard In A Loud Environment

People with Parkinsons struggle to regulate their speaking volume. Normally, humans regulate their volume automatically without much thought. In other words, when going into a noisy environment, a person will naturally increase their volume to an appropriate level. When going into a quiet environment, such as a church or a library, a person will naturally lower the volume to an appropriate level that can still be heard and understood.

The ability to regulate volume is an automatic function that is highly dependent on dopamine. This is why it is a challenge for people with Parkinsons to speak at appropriate volumes.

The best advice to combat this is to speak with intent. However, without speech therapy, it will be challenging to do this because the muscles have to be strong enough to support the intentional voice. This is why speech therapy combines strengthening exercises with learning how to use intent.

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Parkinson Voice Project Awards 2021 Speak Out & Loud Crowd Grant To Paris Regional Medical Center Outpatient Rehabilitation Program

Parkinson Voice Project, a 501 nonprofit organization, has named as a recipient of its 2021 SPEAK OUT!& LOUD CrowdGrant Program. A full listing of the 2021 grant recipients can be found here.

Grant recipients include hospitals, university speech therapy clinics, private practices, and nonprofit organizations. Each clinic receives therapy supplies and free training for their speech-language pathologists and graduate students. Paris Regional Medical Center is committed to offering Parkinson Voice Projects effective speech therapy program in the Northeast Texas and Southeast Oklahoma area.

Up to 90% of people with Parkinsons are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and swallowing complications account for 70% of the mortality rate in this patient population. Our vision at Parkinson Voice Project is to make our highly effective speech therapy program accessible to people with Parkinsons worldwide, said Parkinson Voice Projects Founder and CEO Samantha Elandary.

This grant program honors Daniel R. Boone, PhD, CCC-SLP a world-renowned speech-language pathologist and voice expert who recognized in the late 1950s that individuals with Parkinsons could improve their communication by speaking with intent. Parkinson Voice Projects program combines individual and group therapy to convert speech from an automatic function to an intentional act.

Speak Out& The Loud Crowd

The University of Marys Speech-Language Pathology Department received a grant through the Parkinson Voice Project Grant Program, which provides our students and faculty the opportunity for SPEAK OUT!® and LOUD Crowd® training, therapy materials, and ongoing support/funding to help individuals with Parkinson’s disease improve their communication skills.

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What Are Speak Out And Loud Crowd

SPEAK OUT! is a therapy program designed for people with Parkinsons disease to improve their speech and voicing. This improvement in speech and voice also has a positive impact on swallow function. The focus of this program is to make speech intentional.

The SPEAK OUT! program is typically completed in 12 sessions across four weeks time, after which the client transitions to a LOUD Crowd.

LOUD Crowd is the group therapy component of the program that meets once per week. The focus of these sessions is maintenance of skills learned during SPEAK OUT! and is also a source of socialization for its members.

The SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd therapy regimens were developed at Parkinson Voice Project in Richardson, TX.

Parkinson Voice Project Awards 2021 Speak Out & Loud Crowd Grant To The Reinert Speech

Parkinson Voice Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the speech and communication of individuals with Parkinsons and related neurological disorders through continuous speech therapy, has named The Reinert Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic at Saint Louis University as a recipient of its 2021 SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd Grant Program. Full listing of the 2021 grant recipients.

Grant recipients include hospitals, university speech therapy clinics, private practices, and nonprofit organizations. Each clinic receives therapy supplies and free training for their speech-language pathologists and graduate students. The SLU Reinert Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic is committed to offering Parkinson Voice Projects effective speech therapy program in the St. Louis area.

Up to 90% of people with Parkinsons are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and swallowing complications account for 70% of the mortality rate in this patient population. Our vision at Parkinson Voice Project is to make our highly effective speech therapy program accessible to people with Parkinsons worldwide, said Parkinson Voice Projects Founder and CEO Samantha Elandary.

ABOUT PARKINSON VOICE PROJECT

Parkinson Voice Projects hosts daily online speech practice sessions to support and encourage people with Parkinsons globally. These sessions are available on the organizations website.

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The Speak Out And The Loud Crowd Programs

The University at Buffalo Speech, Language, and Hearing Clinic is pleased to offer a two-part speech therapy program to help individuals with Parkinsons regain and maintain effective communication: SPEAK OUT!® followed by The LOUD Crowd®.

SPEAK OUT!® places emphasis on speaking with intent and converting speech from an automatic function to an intentional act. Together, patients and their speech-language pathologist work through a series of speech, voice, and cognitive exercises outlined in a SPEAK OUT!® Workbook.

Upon completion of SPEAK OUT!®, patients transition to The LOUD Crowd®. This maintenance program consists of weekly group sessions led by a speech-language pathologist. The SPEAK OUT!® exercises are performed, and group members provide support, encouragement, and accountability to one another.

Participation in The LOUD Crowd®, along with daily home practice and six-month re-evaluations, has been shown to help patients maintain their communication skills throughout the progression of Parkinsons.

For more information about SPEAK OUT!® and The LOUD Crowd® visit the Parkinson Voice Project at . Or to schedule a speech evaluation, please call the UB Clinic at 829-3980.

About The Therapy Program

SPEAK OUT! Therapy Program by Parkinson Voice Project

SPEAK OUT!® is a therapy program for individuals with Parkinsons disease that targets improved vocal loudness/quality, and, in turn, swallowing abilities. In this program, speech is transformed from an automatic function to an intentional task. The program is usually completed in 12 sessions spanning four weeks.

Upon completion of SPEAK OUT!®, the client transitions to The LOUD Crowd®. The LOUD Crowd® is the group therapy portion of the program and meets once weekly. The sessions provide maintenance for skills obtained during SPEAK OUT!®.

Up to 90% of people with Parkinsons are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and swallowing complications account for 70% of the mortality rate in this patient population. Our vision at Parkinson Voice Project is to make our highly effective speech therapy program accessible to people with Parkinsons worldwide.

Samantha Elandary, Parkinson Voice Projects Founder and CEO

This grant program honors Daniel R. Boone, PhD, CCC-SLP a world-renowned speech-language pathologist and voice expert who recognized in the late 1950s that individuals with Parkinson’s could improve their communication by speaking with intent.” Parkinson Voice Projects program combines individual and group therapy to convert speech from an automatic function to an intentional act.

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Speak Out And Loud Crowd Clinics

The University of Canterbury Speech and Hearing Clinic is a SPEAK OUT!® and LOUD Crowd® provider for people with Parkinsons disease. The SPEAK OUT! ® & LOUD Crowd® therapy regimens were developed at Parkinson Voice Project in America. You can visit their website Here

For more information or to book an assessment click Here

Talk to our nurses to assess your suitability and get a referral.

Multiple Sclerosis & Parkinsons Society of Canterbury

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When And Where Can I Receive Services

All services are provided in the Center for Communication Disorders in the Health Services and Sciences building on the campus of UWEC. Our street address is 239 Water Street. A parking pass will be provided free of charge for all participants. SPEAK OUT! sessions are scheduled individually, three days per week, Monday through Thursday. LOUD Crowd group sessions are scheduled one time per week on the day and time that best accommodates participant schedules. You can request services here.

We also offer SPEAK OUT! sessions online via Telepractice. Please inquire with clinic personnel to arrange for telepractice sessions.

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Hospital For Special Care Awarded Grant For Parkinsons Speak Out & Loud Crowd Program

Parkinson Voice Project Awards 2021 SPEAK OUT!®& LOUD Crowd® Grant to

Hospital for Special Care

Nonprofit names 302 grant recipients to help people with Parkinsons worldwide

Richardson, Texas Parkinson Voice Project, a 501 nonprofit organization, has named Hospital for Special Care as a recipient of its 2021 SPEAK OUT!& LOUD CrowdGrant Program. A full listing of the 2021 grant recipients can be found here.

Grant recipients include hospitals, university speech therapy clinics, private practices, and nonprofit organizations. Each clinic receives therapy supplies and free training for their speech-language pathologists and graduate students. Hospital for Special Care is committed to offering Parkinson Voice Projects effective speech therapy program in the New Britain and the Greater Hartford area.

Up to 90% of people with Parkinsons are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and swallowing complications account for 70% of the mortality rate in this patient population. Our vision at Parkinson Voice Project is to make our highly effective speech therapy program accessible to people with Parkinsons worldwide,said Parkinson Voice Projects Founder and CEO Samantha Elandary.

ABOUT PARKINSON VOICE PROJECT: