Founded in 2003, LSVT Global has dedicated two decades to advancing LSVT LOUD and LSVT BIG treatments, which are speech, physical and occupational therapies grounded in over 30 years of scientifically validated research.
Marking 20 years in business can prompt you to take a look back at what you have achieved. It is also an opportunity to set your sights on what’s next. Keep reading to discover how our latest offerings are leading LSVT Global into the future.
Building Community and Maintaining Momentum
The impressive gains in speech and movement from our signature products LSVT LOUD® and LSVT BIG® have always motivated us to emphasize the important role of social engagement in maintaining those gains once a client’s treatment protocols have ended. To put this idea into practice, we developed LOUD for LIFE® and BIG for LIFE® training courses for certified clinicians and a subscription-based group maintenance virtual class platform for LSVT graduates called LSVT for LIFE®.
LSVT for LIFE offers those who do not have a community-based option an opportunity to join in for classes virtually – from anywhere in the world. This can help them overcome social isolation and make them feel like active participants in their care. The classes are fun, challenging, engaging and provide participants with social interaction while they exercise! And, they combine well with our already extensive portfolio of patient lectures, support materials and educational products.
Reaching Underserved Client and Clinician Groups
LSVT LOUD student training in action. Harding University student Parker Smitherman provided the Tonga word for LOUD as she conducted an LSVT LOUD stimulability session with an individual in Zambia, helping him to be heard as he sang the National anthem. Harding University SLP students and faculty have been providing therapy services in Zambia since 2009 as a part of a six-week summer clinical practicum course. LSVT LOUD training added an enhancement this year!
LSVT Global is well aware of the social inequities in accessing healthcare and training for healthcare professionals serving people in need around the world. We recently launched a long-term strategic initiative to better understand the nature of these inequities as they apply to LSVT LOUD and LSVT BIG clinician training and treatment delivery.
In parallel, we have developed a strategic action plan to take real and meaningful steps to recruit clinicians from underserved groups, establish scholarships for students, supervisors, and clinicians from underrepresented groups, and develop mentoring opportunities for these newly certified clinicians. These initiatives are global and will make LSVT training and certification in developing countries more accessible and sustainable.
Moving Beyond Parkinson’s
One of the truly remarkable aspects of LSVT LOUD and LSVT BIG has been their neurorehabilitative impact beyond the population they were initially developed to treat: people with Parkinson’s disease. Through research findings and direct clinical application, these therapies have benefitted other adult client populations including individuals with Parkinson plus syndromes, acquired brain injury, multiple sclerosis, stroke and ataxia.
Recently, LSVT LOUD has shown tremendous promise with pediatric populations, including children with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism. Group research and clinical case studies have revealed impressive treatment gains in children beyond what was traditionally thought of as their limits. We have recently created a specialized LSVT LOUD for KIDS® Training and Certification Course. What’s more, the traction seen in the treatment of pediatric populations with LSVT LOUD has stimulated interest within the research and clinical communities to extend the application to encompass LSVT BIG in pediatrics. Down the road, we envision an ideal collaboration between our certified LSVT LOUD speech-language pathologists and our certified LSVT BIG physical and occupational therapists for the treatment of pediatric populations with speech and motor impairments.
Accessibility Through Technology
We have all recently learned of the benefits of remote access to healthcare when in-person treatment is not available or feasible. There is already an extensive research literature and clinical experience in the use of telepractice in the delivery of LSVT LOUD both domestically and internationally. LSVT Global has made the delivery of LSVT LOUD more practical through the LSVT Coach, a software system that complements and supports LSVT LOUD speech treatment.
The LSVT Coach is offered in both a Professional Edition and a Client Edition. The Professional Edition can be used by LSVT LOUD clinicians to automatically collect and analyze voice data, thus improving efficiency during treatment sessions. The Client Edition can be used by patients to help maintain improvements via interactive guidance and feedback during their post-LSVT LOUD voice practice.
The LSVT Coach Client Edition can be used in conjunction with telepractice to expand the accessibility of LSVT LOUD without geographical limits. LSVT Global is in the beginning stages of defining the development parameters of assistive technology for LSVT BIG, and we see this as an exciting future development for increased treatment access.
What’s Next?
The future is bright for LSVT Global. Our first 20 years of business and 30 years of LSVT training and certification have solidified our signature treatment protocols as invaluable for treating the communicative and movement impairments of clients with Parkinson’s and beyond. Their application to pediatric populations has gone further than we thought possible. Our new patient support and maintenance initiatives demonstrate our ongoing commitment to advocate for patients and clinicians who may have difficulty accessing quality treatment and training.
LSVT Global will continue to embrace community initiatives and partnerships to collaboratively improve the lives of those living with neurological conditions and seek out new avenues of technology to provide feasible access of our signature treatments worldwide.
LSVT Global has a bright future ahead. Our business is strong, and we continue to evolve and grow as we remain faithful to our primary mission: to improve the lives of patients with communicative and/or movement disorders and to support the caring professionals who use our therapies to help them achieve that goal.”
Dr. David McFarland, Co-Founder, LSVT Global, Inc.