The clinician's place for dysphagia awareness, evidence-based practice and information.
ASHA Convention 2021 I absolutely love going to the ASHA convention. I think my favorite part of the convention is networking and finding new and amazing products. I was so excited this year to find the SWIK Oral Suction System. I know.....what in the heck is that?? SWIK Oral Suction System I went into the [...]
Dysphagia Rehabilitation Over the past 15-20 our efforts in the treatment of dysphagia have moved from compensation and management to rehabilitation. We know that through the principles of neuroplasticity that swallowing is the best way to have the patient rehabilitate the swallow. Having the patient swallow challenging bolus types or swallow without the use of [...]
When treating patients with head and neck cancer, there are many questions and pieces of the puzzle that need to be put together. You are always assessing where the cancer was, the type and amount of treatment received (surgery, CRT), prior and current swallowing status, etc. Timing of therapy is critical for rehabilitation. Preferably, therapy [...]
Fighting Dysphagia with an Unlikely Weapon: Math (Part 1) A Guest Post by: George Barnes MS CCC-SLP Co-author: Doreen Benson MS CCC-SLP Thinking about thinking Congratulations. You made it this far. The mathematical title didn’t scare you away. But it's ok if it makes you a little nervous. I mean, you haven't touched math since [...]
*This post is sponsored by SimplyThick. Although SimplyThick has paid for this post, I am a huge fan of SimplyThick when liquids need to be thickened! You can visit the SimplyThick Dysphagia Ramblings page here to request free samples.* SimplyThick (you know, the gel thickener) was founded back in 2001 by John Holahan. [...]
The Dysphagia Outreach Project Giving Event 2020 Guest Post By: Jessica Lasky, MS, CCC-SLP and Allison Boyer, MA, CCC-SLP Who We Are The Dysphagia Outreach Project is a 100% volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that was founded in 2019. The mission of the Dysphagia Outreach Project is to provide meaningful assistance to low-income individuals affected by [...]
What have you always wanted to know about IDDSI? Did you know that all things IDDSI are located in one place? Find out where!
The Dysphagia Toolbox I have written about the Dysphagia Toolbox before. The Dysphagia Toolbox used to be a website that offered links to standardized and reliable tools that you can use in dysphagia assessment and with reassessment. [...]
Cognition can impact many facets of life including swallowing. Patients may be confused enough that they don't "recognize" food in their mouth and effectively may not know what to do with that food. For example, when I was working in the acute care hospital, I evaluated a patient in the ICU that had sodium levels [...]
What happens to the sensory aspect of the swallow with extubation? What should we expect with patients that have intubation for more than 48 hours?