LIM Medical Centre in Warszawa has extended the range of specializations to include logopaedics. Danuta Matukiewicz* - a general logopedician, specialist neurologopaedician sees patients in the Outpatient's Clinic Al. Jerozolimskie 65/79, Marriot Bldg.

Speech organs begin to develop as early as in foetal life, and it is just then that their first training begins. In successive months and years the faculty of speech goes through various stages of development. Speech defects, if not corrected in time, will not subside by themselves just over the years. Without professional intervention such defects will last throughout lifetime; but irrespective of the patient's age these defects still can be eliminated.

You ought to pay attention to how your child speaks. If your child is over 3 years old and communicates mainly by gestures, habitually speaks in a nasal voice, or if you are not sure about whether its hearing is good, you should immediately see a speech therapist. Moreover, it is alarming if a three-year old does not pronounce vowels correctly; a four-year old substitutes voiced sounds with voiceless ones; a five-year old pronounces [l] instead of [r], or in place of [sz] pronounces [s]. Sometimes, a child tends to repeat the first letters or syllables and gives the impression of stuttering.

Speech disorders such as lisping, a mispronouncing of [r] or of other Polish language sounds can be eliminated. Following simple instructions and doing logopaedic exercises usually suffices, and, if you persevere in doing this, your child's speech will certainly be corrected.

Speech therapist helps not only children, also adults come more and more frequently to have their speech corrected. Communication skills play a major role in self-presentation and in creating company's image.

In business, media or politics your poise and the way how you give utterance to your thoughts are most essential. Depending on your personal needs, the speech therapist will concentrate on particular fields of communication, among others on eliminating speech defects, on correcting utterance and diction, on achieving clear articulation, and even on eliminating stress produced by public utterance.

The faculty of communication may be lost because of various brain incidents such as stroke; this may entail accidents, traffic traumas, or aphasia, i.e. a total or partial loss of the faculty of speech (depending on which cerebral segment has been injured).

In such cases speech therapy is by all means recommended. It should be remembered that the human brain is malleable. An adequate stimulation will enable the damaged centres' functions to be taken over by the centres that work properly. The situation may be compared to a park alley where some park lamps are gone out but those which work properly throw light on the other. The human brain works in a similar manner - says Danuta Matukiewicz, a logopaedician from LIM Medical Centre.

If you go to hospital for treatment, you cannot expect that your speech therapy will be concluded during your hospitalization; following your discharge you should, as soon as possible, begin your exercises. The sooner you begin to work on restoring your lost functions, the better the effect will be, and your abilities both in speech and writing will be improved.

a philologist, general logopaedician, specialist neurologopaedician. A graduate from Gdańsk University, a lecturer in Higher School of Liberal Arts - ATENEUM in Gdańsk, the editor of Vilcacora. Żyj długo (monthly magazine on health), a member of Polish Society of Logopaedics.