Cerebral Palsy Speech Therapist

August 27, 2008

I found an interesting cerebral palsy-related article online. In it, a man named Hal Hunsaker describes what it was like to fly to Costa Rica to help a family out.

Adrian and Denise Goldgewicht called Hunsaker and paid for him to fly out and visit children from local orphanages and hospitals. All of these cerebral palsy children were fed through a tube because they had only spastic control of their mouth and tongue.

Hunsaker utilizes a device that creates a small electric pulse to help children and adults with swallowing disorders caused by cerebral palsy. The disorder is usually referred to as "dysphagia". Hunsaker places the device on the jaw and neck of his patients and it produces a pulse that wakes up paralyzed, weakened or uncontrolled nerves and muscles in the mouth and throat.

Hunsaker is a second generation speech therapist and earned his master's degree in speech therapy from Eastern Washington University. He worked for the local school district and at several nursing homes before opening his own business in 2003.

Hunsaker said the device and process he utilizes is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and has been shown to bring improvements in 90 percent of patients with swallowing problems. Therapy for these disorders must be prescribed by a physician.

Hunsaker said he has achieved success with his cerebral palsy patients, but it usually takes time for improvement to come. He traditionally sees a patient for therapy once a week. In Costa Rica, however, he worked with children intensively for four days. The results were better than he could possibly have dreamed. All of the children were able to swallow and eat food within the four days he worked with them!

For more information about cerebral palsy visit http://www.ucp.org/

For more information about speech therapy for cerebral palsy, visit this site