Heather L. Smith

Speech-Language Pathologist

Ms. Heather L. Smith is a Speech-Language Pathologist in Washington, DC with special training and skill in preventing, assessing, diagnosing, and treating speech, language, cognitive communication, and swallowing disorders arising from illness, injury, deficiency, or congenital birth defect. As a Speech-Language Pathologist, Heather L. Smith performs testing, evaluation, and treatment of disorders relating to how patients form words, communicate, and process the speech of others. Speech-Language Pathology is a medical specialty that deals with disorders related to how patients form words, speak, and understand what others are saying to them. Significant diseases and conditions treated by Speech-Language Pathologists include speech disorders like stuttering and dysarthia, language disorders like articulation and phonological processing disorders, social communication disorders, cognitive-communication disorders, voice disorders, and swallowing disorders that may arise from conditions like stroke, dementia, brain injury, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's disease, autism, hearing loss, or congenital birth defects. Medical tests, procedures and therapies provided by Speech-Language Pathologists include speech and language assessment, hearing assessment, developing treatment plans based on assessment and test results, developing communications strategies for patients and caregivers, working with patients to achieve communication goals, and providing patient and parent education.

The speech-language pathologist is the professional who engages in clinical services, prevention, advocacy, education, administration, and research in the areas of communication and swallowing across the life span from infancy through geriatrics. Speech-language pathologists address typical and atypical impairments and disorders related to communication and swallowing in the areas of speech sound production, resonance, voice, fluency, language (comprehension and expression), cognition, and feeding and swallowing.