Donna L. Girardi, MA

Speech-Language Pathologist

Mrs. Donna L. Girardi is a Speech-Language Pathologist in New Hyde Park, NY 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, Donna L. Girardi, MA 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.

Home Health Agency

A public agency or private organization, or a subdivision of such an agency or organization, that is primarily engaged in providing skilled nursing services and other therapeutic services, such as physical therapy, speech-language pathology services, or occupational therapy, medical social services, and home health aide services. It has policies established by a professional group associated with the agency or organization (including at least one physician and one registered nurse) to govern the services and provides for supervision of such services by a physician or a registered nurse; maintains clinical records on all patients; is licensed in accordance with State or local law or is approved by the State or local licensing agency as meeting the licensing standards, where applicable; and meets other conditions found by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to be necessary for health and safety.