Speech Pathologist Day

Today we begin four days of summer; it’s predicted to be sunny and around 20° until Monday and that is pretty remarkable for early April.

Of far greater importance to me today, however, is that today is the day I see a speech pathologist. Here is how Wikipedia defines the science of speech pathology:

“Speech-language pathologists work to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication, and swallowing disorders in children and adults.”

Speech language pathologists are clinicians. I am doing this on my own, without a reference from my GP. Having recently discovered that if I read aloud I speak perfectly, in my own clear voice, it makes me question the source of the problem. I’m going to the speech pathologist with one question, therefore: Do you think my problem is in my brain or my throat?

I think the problem may be in my brain and if she thinks as I do it will convince me to ask Dr. Morrison (Whom I see in June) to ask to see a neurolinguist. Here’s how Wiki defines the science of neurolinguistics:

“Neurolinguistics is the study of the neural mechanisms in the human brain that control the comprehension, production, and acquisition of language.”

The only thing that makes me question the relevance of a neurolinguist is that my voice problem is episodic.

I’ll close with a conundrum: I memorized The Highwayman when I was eleven years old. I still know much of it by heart, but if I try to recite it, my voice remains broken. However, if I read it, my voice is there. What a mystery!