Parkinson Voice Project, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization has named Mary Pyfrom, MA, CCC-SLP, MT-BC and the University of South Florida Speech and Language Clinic as a recipient of its 2021 SPEAK OUT! and LOUD Crowd Grant Program. USF is one of 302 grant recipients named worldwide. As part of the grant the USF clinic will receive therapy supplies and free training for one additional speech-language pathologist and all of the graduate students within our program. The clinical faculty within the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders are committed to offering Parkinson Voice Project's effective speech therapy program in the Tampa area.
"Up to 90% of people with Parkinson's are at high risk of losing their ability to speak, and swallowing complications account for 70% of the mortality rate in this patient population. Our vision at Parkinson Voice Project is to make our highly effective speech therapy program accessible to people with Parkinson's worldwide," said Parkinson Voice Project's Founder and CEO Samantha Elandary.
This grant program honors Daniel R. Boone, PhD, CCC-SLP a world-renowned speech-language pathologist and voice expert who recognized in the late 1950s that individuals with Parkinson's could improve their communication by "speaking with intent." Parkinson Voice Project's program combines individual and group therapy to convert speech from an automatic function to an intentional act.