Speech therapy

Speech therapy focuses on the prevention, diagnosis, counselling, and treatment of disorders related to voice, speech, and language.

Speech therapists support people with communication difficulties and related impairments. Their work helps individuals communicate more effectively and overcome barriers to understanding.

Speech and communication difficulties can affect:

  • language comprehension
  • spoken and written language
  • speech production
  • oral motor functions
  • swallowing
  • breathing
  • voice
  • hearing
  • perception

The speech therapist will help you to maintain or regain certain skills or functions. Speech therapy can also help to recognise certain disorders in children at an early stage and to introduce interventions. Depending on the disorder, different methods or forms of therapy are used.

You can receive speech therapy, for example

•    as an outpatient, i.e. in hospital or at a facility run by your insurance provider,
•    as an inpatient, i.e. during a stay in a rehabilitation centre, medical treatment facility, or hospital,
•    in a practice or as part of a home visit,
•    in kindergartens and certain schools (this offer is only available in some federal provinces).

You can get a referral for speech therapy from a specialist in neurology, your family doctor or your dentist, for example. For children, therapy can also be prescribed by a specialist in pediatrics.

If you visit a contracted speech therapist, the treatment will be free of charge. If you visit an elective speech therapist, you will have to cover the costs yourself, but you can be reimbursed for some of the costs through your social insurance provider. For more information, get in touch with your social insurance provider. 

You can find more information about speech therapy under the following links:

Last update: October 14, 2025