Parkinson Voice Project

Purpose:One in one hundred adults over the age of 60 will be diagnosed with Parkinsons. Of these individuals, 90% are likely to develop difficulty with speech and communication. Left untreated, speech disorders can lead to serious swallowing complications. The inability to effectively speak and safely swallow can lead to isolation, depression, dependence on others, feeding tubes, multiple hospitalizations, and death. Parkinson Voice Project exists to help people with parkinson's and related neurological disorders regain and retain their speech and swallowing. Achievements:Major Programs & Activities:SPEAK OUT! Therapy ProgramIn 2010, Parkinson Voice Project developed a unique speech therapy program for people with Parkinsons and related neurological disorders: SPEAK OUT! The program combines education, individual speech therapy, group speech therapy, and consistent home practice to help patients regain and retain their speech and swallowing. Parkinson Voice Project has also developed SPEAK OUT! Therapy workbooks and flashcards in several languages, as well as an online training course for speech-language pathologists and graduate students. Speech Therapy ClinicParkinson Voice Project runs a speech therapy clinic in Richardson, Texas. Its clinical team treats patients in-person and online. All its speech-language pathologists are licensed in Texas, but some also hold licensure in other states (Florida, Maine, Missouri, and New York). Our speech-language pathologists who are licensed in other states can provide online therapy to patients living in those states. Something unique about Parkinson Voice Project is that it has not charged for any of its speech therapy services since 2008. The clinic is funded primarily through donations.SPEAK OUT! Training and Grant ProgramParkinson Voice Projects vision is to make its SPEAK OUT! Therapy Program accessible to people with Parkinsons and related neurological disorders worldwide. To achieve this goal, the organization developed a training program for speech-language pathologists and graduate students. Training is provided through in-person workshops and an online training program. To accelerate its replication process, Parkinson Voice Project began awarding training grants to hospitals, universities, and other speech therapy clinics across the U.S. and abroad in 2018. These grants provide free training to speech-language pathologists and graduate students, as well as therapy workbooks and flashcards. Some grant sites receive funding for therapy supplies and equipment. In April 2023, 364 grants were awarded.Our Campaign To Reach AmericaIn 2021, Parkinson Voice Project conducted a feasibility study for a project called, Our Campaign To Reach America. It is an ambitious project whereby our organization would collaborate with one university speech clinic in every state to make SPEAK OUT! Therapy accessible to patients who would not otherwise have access. These clinics would follow Parkinson Voice Projects funding model (no charge therapy) and would specialize in online treatment. By doing this, SPEAK OUT! would be available to the homebound, those who live in rural areas, and those who didnt have insurance. These clinics would also train their graduate students in SPEAK OUT! and would conduct research on the program with the goal of being published in a scientific journal in three to five years. These clinics would be called SPEAK OUT! Therapy & Research Centers. Since speech-language pathologists are licensed by state, the goal would be to have one clinic in each state across America. In 2023, Parkinson Voice Project received 40 applications from university speech clinics wanting to be named the SPEAK OUT! Therapy & Research Center for their state. Sixteen universities were selected. Parkinson Voice Project has been training and mentoring these clinics to replicate our program in their university clinics. In June 2023, faculty members from the 16 Centers traveled to Richardson, Texas to receive two and a half days of intensive training by our clinical staff and patient volunteers. The CEO of Parkinson Voice Project meets with the Centers each month via ZOOM.Online SPEAK OUT! Home Practice Sessions & Online Parkinson's Sing-AlongsParkinson Voice Project hosts LIVE online SPEAK OUT! Home Practice Sessions five days a week on its website, Facebook page, and YouTube Channel to help people with Parkinsons remain consistent with their daily exercises. These sessions are also recorded and available 24/7. A report from July 2023 indicates more than 16,723 people are accessing these sessions each week. many patients participate in multiple online sessions each week.In January 2023, Parkinson Voice Project began offering weekly Parkinsons Sing-Alongs. Participation in this ZOOM group for July and the first two weeks of August has averaged 80 participants each week. SING OUT! Since 2006, Parkinson Voice Project has hosted an annual concert where its patients show off their strong voices for family, friends, and community supporters. During the pandemic, it wasnt possible for large groups to gather. Therefore, the annual concert transitioned to a virtual performance for 2020, 2021, and 2022. Four hundred and forty-five people with Parkinsons from across the U.S. and abroad performed with their family and friends in 2022. Parkinson Voice Project will no longer host a virtual concert now that the pandemic is over. groups can gather in-person. Singing rehearsals are being hosted every Wednesday in the clinic. We plan to host a SING OUT! Concert this fall, but it will be a much smaller production that will be recorded in our clinic so it can be shared with our online community.