We help adults in the Cavan and Monaghan area with their speech, language, voice, and swallowing.
On this page, you will find information on:
- Who we work with
- What we do
- How to refer
- Contact us
- Useful websites
Who we work with
We work with adults 18 years and above. We work with people who have the following difficulties:
Aphasia
Difficulty with understanding and using language. Aphasia can affect your ability to talk, understand, read and write. Your intelligence is not affected and you know what you want to say.
Dysarthria
Difficulty with talking caused by weak speech muscles. Your speech may sound slow, monotonous, slurred or indistinct. You may find it hard to be understood.
Apraxia of speech
Difficulty with talking. It happens when the messages from your brain to your speech muscles are disrupted. You may have difficulty moving your lips or tongue to the right place to say words correctly, even though your muscles are not weak.
Cognitive communication difficulties
Difficulty with communication caused by general thinking difficulties. You may struggle with memory, attention and problem solving. This can make it difficult to talk, listen, read, write or interact in social situations.
Stammering
Speech difficulty which involves frequent and significant problems with the flow of speech. You may repeat sounds or words (e.g. ‘I-I-I am going to the shop’), prolong sounds (e.g. ‘ppppput the kettle on’) or get stuck on a word or sound where it may not come out at all. Stammering can also be called stuttering or dysfluency.
Voice disorders
May include any problem with pitch, volume, tone and/or other qualities of your voice. Your voice may sound hoarse, weak, strained, rough or quiet.
Dysphagia
The medical name for difficulty swallowing. Signs and symptoms of dysphagia include coughing or throat clearing when eating/drinking, feeling of food going the wrong way, wet or gurgly voice after swallowing, feeling of food sticking in the throat, difficulty getting the swallow ‘started’, difficulty chewing food, feeling short of breath after eating or drinking, recurrent chest infections, unexplained weight loss.
These difficulties may result from the following conditions:
- Stroke
- Dementia
- Neurological conditions, for example Parkinson’s Disease, Motor Neuron Disease, Multiple Sclerosis
- Respiratory conditions
- Cancer
- Brain Injury
What we do
We work with the adult, their family, and carers to support their communication and swallowing. This may involve assessment, therapy sessions, home programmes or onward referral to other health and social care professionals.
Assessment
In your assessment, we will confirm your details, ask about your general medical history and your current concerns about your communication and/or swallowing.
For swallowing difficulties, we will examine the strength of your lips, tongue and jaw muscles. We will ask you to bring certain foods and drinks and we will observe you eating, drinking and swallowing these.
For communication difficulties, we may carry out a variety of assessments to check your understanding, use of language when talking, and how clear your speech and voice is. We may ask you to look at pictures and describe or name them, say particular sounds and we may also assess your speech through simple conversation.
Therapy
Swallowing treatment may involve:
- making your drinks thicker
- changing the texture of your food
- giving tips and strategies to encourage safe swallowing e.g. changing posture, slowing down how fast you eat and drink
- exercises to strengthen your swallowing muscles
- a referral for a moving x-ray of swallowing called videofluoroscopy
Communication therapy may involve:
- education about your communication
- exercises to improve your communication
- strategies to support your communication
- working on real life communication situations which you may find difficult, for example, making phone calls, asking for help in a shop
Assessment and therapy sessions may be clinic based or virtual. In some specific cases, initial assessment can be completed in the person’s own home.
For advice on how you can support yourself or someone with communication or swallowing difficulties, please see our how to guide.
How to refer
You can refer to the speech and language therapy primary care team by completing a self-referral form. Family members, nursing homes, GPs and members of the Primary Care Team (PCT) can also refer with the person’s consent.
Primary Care Team Referral Form
You may be appropriate for one of our other services, please see contact details below.
Contact us
We work in various primary care centres and hospital services across Cavan and Monaghan. All of our speech and language therapists are registered with CORU. CORU is the Irish regulator for health and social care professions.
Community Services
Cavan
Connolly Street Primary Care Centre,
Connolly Street,
Cavan,
Co. Cavan
Phone: 049 4378901
North Monaghan and Clones
North Monaghan Primary Care Unit,
St. Davnet’s Hospital Complex,
Roosky,
Co. Monaghan
Phone: 047 95506 or 047 95507
South Monaghan
Beech Corner,
Castleblayney,
Co. Monaghan
Phone: 042 9749797
Adult Physical and Sensory Team (covering Cavan and Monaghan)
Connolly Street Primary Care Centre,
Connolly Street,
Cavan,
Co. Cavan
Phone: 049 4378901
Ambulatory Care Hub (covering Cavan and Monaghan)
Lisdarn Unit,
Lisdarn,
Co. Cavan
Phone: 049 4373136
Hospital Services
Monaghan Rehabilitation Unit
Monaghan Hospital,
Co. Monaghan
Phone: 047 38860
Cavan General Hospital
Lisdarn,
Co. Cavan
Phone: 049 4376328
Frailty Intervention Therapy Team
Cavan General Hospital,
Lisdarn,
Co. Cavan
Phone: 049 4376000 (Bleep 392)
Useful websites
- Aphasia Ireland provides awareness and support for those with aphasia and their families.
- The Irish Heart Foundation provides information and support to people affected by stroke.
- Understand Together is a public support, awareness, and information campaign led by HSE, working with The Alzheimer Society of Ireland and Genio campaign.
- MS Ireland provides information, support and services to people with multiple sclerosis in Ireland.
- The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association work on behalf of people living with MND and their families and carers.
- The Parkinson’s Association of Ireland work to assist people with Parkinson’s disease, their families, health professionals and other interested people by offering support, a listening ear and information on any aspect of living with Parkinson’s.
- PSPA Ireland is a support organisation in Ireland for people with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD).
- Acquired Brain Injury Ireland has established a network of support groups throughout Ireland, accessible to all those caring for a loved one with brain injury.
- The International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative provides advice, resources, and support for texture modified foods and thickened liquids for people with dysphagia.
- Stammering Ireland provides information and support to people who stammer in Ireland.
- The British Voice Association is the 'voice for voice' in the UK, an association of multi-disciplinary professionals who work to promote the field of voice.
