Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences Graduate Students Earn LSVT LOUD Certification

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This January, 11 speech-language pathology (SLP) students in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences completed the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) Loud Training and Certification course. LSVT LOUD is an effective, evidence-based speech treatment for people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurological conditions. The treatment is an exercise-based approach that focuses on the voice and trains patients to recalibrate their sensory system to improve their everyday voice, speech, and nonverbal communication skills.

Lisa Sommers, Clinical Associate Professor and Clinic Director of the Center for Language, Speech and Hearing in the department, led the two-day training. For the past ten years Sommers has coordinated the annual LSVT LOUD Training and Certification, long considered the “gold standard treatment” to members of the community who deal with the daily challenges of PD.

In the training, Sommers shares clinical stories and examples from her many years of clinical practice using the LSVT LOUD approach. After the training, students take a certification test and have the opportunity to work with individuals diagnosed with PD who volunteer their time to be pretend patients for the students.

“This year’s group of students worked very hard to complete the training,” says Sommers. “The training provides foundational knowledge about Parkinson’s disease, which is so important to clinicians as they face the considerable movement, sensory, communication, cognitive and swallowing challenges that people with PD face. The students acquire this knowledge which goes above and beyond that learned in a typical graduate course. These students leave our program uniquely qualified to confidently and competently evaluate and treat people with PD, an ever-increasing number of people as the US population ages.”

The students were grateful for the opportunity and were particularly impacted by the interactions with their mock patients, noted Sommers. The enhanced training allowed them to go beyond just the techniques. They heard about patients’ experiences with getting diagnosed, struggling to manage their symptoms, and how they continue to work on their communication and swallowing skills at every phase of the disease. Everyone’s unique story underscored the variability of PD and how the students will need to remain committed to a person-centered approach within a structured program of exercises.

Adds Sommers, “I’m proud that we continue to contribute significantly to the number of LSVT-LOUD certified clinicians in our region, which is in such great need of health care professionals with expertise in Parkinson’s Disease.”