Intensive Aphasia Therapy: Instrumental SLP Offers Different Approach to Empower People With Aphasia With First ICAP on West Coast

ANAHEIM, Calif. - May 5, 2022 - (Newswire.com)

Instrumental SLP, a small Anaheim-based speech therapy practice founded by Lyda Kongswangwongsa, an ASHA Certified Speech Language Pathologist (CCC SLP), could be any other speech therapy private practice, except for two big differences. The first difference is that Instrumental SLP specializes in adult speech therapy. Many private practices offer services mainly for children, but adults need someone who specializes in speech therapy for adults. The second difference is that it offers the only Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program in California and the West Coast. 

Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Programs (ICAPs) are speech therapy programs for people with aphasia. Aphasia is a language disorder that can happen after a brain injury or stroke and over two million people in the United States have aphasia. There are a handful of other ICAPs located across the country, but many of them are big programs at universities or hospitals. 

Kongswangwongsa says she offers this program because her clients "just wanted more." She wanted to provide longer sessions using research-based therapies designed to improve the abilities of those with aphasia. "ICAPs are for people who want to see the most improvement possible in a short amount of time. People get tired of waiting for results and, with this format, we get the intensity required for learning and neuroplasticity. This helps us achieve the best results possible for the deficits that are present. We test at the beginning and end of the programs so we can measure success. Everyone we saw last year showed clear improvement."

Instrumental SLP offers therapy in its office and through teletherapy in California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona. ICAP sessions are held four days per week and last for four hours each day. Clients must meet program requirements in order to participate in ICAP, but Kongswangwongsa tailors each program based on what the client will benefit most from. "When necessary, we modify each program so that our client isn't forced to attend sessions for longer than they can benefit from." She also says not everyone can benefit from the teletherapy format, so she offers free initial Zoom consultations to confirm if it's a good fit.

Instrumental SLP utilizes a variety of treatment approaches to help its clients. These approaches have names like "Semantic Feature Analysis," "Verb Network Strengthening Treatment" and "Abstract Semantic Associative Network Training." Kongswangwongsa likes to incorporate any approach that has research behind it with the potential to help her clients.

Kongswangwongsa says she is excited to be the first one to offer an ICAP on the West Coast. "I want to keep growing our program, so it's a really exciting time for us." For anyone curious about whether an ICAP is right for them, Instrumental SLP offers a free initial consultation to help determine if the practice can help. For more information, call (714) 844-0233 or visit www.islppro.com.

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Original Source: Intensive Aphasia Therapy: Instrumental SLP Offers Different Approach to Empower People With Aphasia With First ICAP on West Coast