Speak Out! & Loud Crowd

SPEAK OUT! is a therapy regimen tailored to people with Parkinson's disease to improve their voicing, and in turn, their swallowing. In this program, speech is transformed from an automatic function to an intentional task. SPEAK OUT! is usually completed in 12 sessions spanning four weeks, and then the patient transitions to the LOUD Crowd. In this four-week span, patients report improvement in their speaking, their ability to be heard and their overall quality of life.

LOUD Crowd is the group therapy portion of the program and meets once weekly. The sessions provide maintenance for skills obtained during SPEAK OUT! and are a source of camaraderie for the members. The LOUD Crowd meetings at Emory Healthcare are forthcoming and will soon be offered at Emory Brain Health Center, located at the same address below that SPEAK OUT! therapy occurs.

The SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd therapy regimens were developed at Parkinson Voice Project in Richardson, TX. Visit their website at the link below.

View the Parkinson Voice Project

SPEAK OUT! is offered Monday through Thursday at the following location:

Emory Brain Health Center, Neuro Rehabilitation Clinic
12 Executive Park
Suite 470
Atlanta, GA 30329

Get Directions

According to studies, up to 89% of people with Parkinson's disease develop difficulty communicating and up to 95% develop difficulty swallowing. To postpone and prevent this decline, it is optimal to begin speech therapy as soon as possible. Participation in SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd can change the effects that Parkinson's disease has on your voice. Muscles become weak because they are not used to their full capacity, not because Parkinson's is making them weak. SPEAK OUT! & LOUD Crowd requires you to use the muscles for speaking and swallowing to their full potential to prevent decline.

Speech therapy treatments will be billed to your insurance company for services provided. Please check with your insurance to determine the co-pay or cost associated with skilled speech therapy. The LOUD Crowd program will be a free service at Emory Healthcare.

An appointment for speech therapy will be scheduled following receipt of a physician’s prescription, which can be faxed to 404-778-2058. You will be contacted to schedule an appointment, once the physician’s prescription has been received. For additional information, please call 404-712-2917.