09/10/2026
๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป, ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ด๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ป ๐บ๐๐น๐๐ถ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ (๐ ๐ฆ) ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ ๐ฆ ๐๐ผ๐ฐ๐๐
In an hour-long panel hosted by the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, , assistant dean of health sciences and director of the 's master's in medical speech-language pathology, joined a physical therapist and an occupational therapist to explain how the three disciplines work together for people living with MS.
Dr. Barrera, who has provided MS care almost exclusively for nearly 20 years, opened with the gap between how common these symptoms are and how rarely anyone is sent for help. Roughly 44% of people with MS experience changes in speech clarity or voice, about 33% report changes in voice, chewing and swallowing, and between 45% and 65% experience changes in memory, attention or word retrieval.
"Despite a really well understood higher occurrence for speech, language, cognitive and swallowing disorders along the continuum for MS care, only 2% of persons with MS are appropriately referred to services by my discipline, and only 1% of individuals receive the appropriate care that they need for cognition," said Dr. Barrera.
Her advice to patients: set the bar low for asking. "If you or someone you love reports changes in their communication, their cognition, their voice, their swallowing, and it interferes even just one iota, that is just enough to say to the person who's responsible for your referrals: I would like a referral to a medical speech pathologist."
Dr. Barrera was joined by Herb Karpatkin, PT, DSc, NCS, GCS, MSCS, and Samia Alamgir, OTD, OTR/L.
Watch the full program here: https://vist.ly/5hwyw
