Five Questions With Lorton's Jessica Schwab of Milestone Speech Therapy

The act of speaking well can determine the fate of the world, and Jessica Schwab is making it a better place - one child at a time. Schwab is the owner of Milestone Speech Therapy, a new Lorton practice that provides in-home therapy for children and young adults with speech, language and eating disorders. 

Schwab received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Virginia, and lives in Lorton with her husband and two children. She's the recipient of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association ACE Award, and, for the last ten years has worked with children and adults with special needs.    

Patch: Can you name some famous stutterers? 

Schwab: No one's ever asked me that. Hm… I think the most famous recently is King George VI from "The King's Speech." Off the top of my head… there's also James Earl Jones and Nicholas Brendon from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

Patch: What is the most common developmental challenge you face with clients? 

Schwab: I think right now it's Autism Spectrum Disorder. One in 88 children are affected by autism and that really impacts their communications skills. It affects their ability to interpret social situations and responding appropriately can be difficult for them and they have an inability to interact with their peers. Our job is to improve their overall ability to make friends, keep friends and become good communicators. 

Patch: How long can therapy last? Are these issues something that a majority of your patients have to live with for the rest of their lives? 

Schwab: It depends on their diagnosis. For a child with autism, they may benefit with therapy through their school-age years and maybe less when they get older. Some people may have an articulation disorder, and can't say their R's, so they made only need help for three to six months. But it can be difficult for kids with autism because of the difficulties they have in understanding and using language to communicate. 

Patch: Are your services covered by health insurance? 

Schwab: They are covered by health insurance. Right now we're offering families paperwork for reimbursement. Unfortunately, many insurance companies have limited coverage, but we do the best we can to help families recoup what they pay. 

Patch: There were 2,690 speech therapy professionals working in Virginia in 2010, which is more than 3,500 fewer than in 2009. Nationwide, the industry has shrunk 60 percent between 2006 and 2010, according to educationnews.org. What is happening to your field? 

Schwab: Well, you know, I think what is happening to the field is that speech language pathologists are retiring. I think that is the drain on the number of positions available. There were many speech language pathologists that used the GI bill to get their education, and now there are not enough grad programs to even support the people who want to be speech pathologists. There's a greater need for speech language pathologists, particularly because we have many more people who need our assistance. 

Did you ever suffer from a speech disorder? Tell us about it and your road to self improvement in the comments box below!