The clinician's place for dysphagia awareness, evidence-based practice and information.
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 [...]
What have you always wanted to know about IDDSI? Did you know that all things IDDSI are located in one place? Find out where!
I would love to share a story with you. Now keep in mind, I've been an SLP for a lot of years and feel that I do a pretty good job. Sometimes, I may even get a little over-confident in my skills and have to examine what I'm doing. Let's talk about a patient I've [...]
I really don't know where the phrase "fake it till you make it" came but it's one phrase that absolutely makes me cringe in relationship to dysphagia. Don't get me wrong. You should always go in confident in your skills. How can you possibly be confident though in skills you don't possess? The scary [...]
EDIT 1/4/17. Due to a recent Facebook post, I wanted to change some wording on this post. As with all areas of dysphagia, I continue to grow, learn and change my beliefs, mainly because of the patients I serve. Although my belief stands that those patients who do not follow my recommendation continue to [...]
Robbins J, Butler SG, Daniels SK, Gross RD, Langmore S, Lazarus CL, Martin-Harris B, McCabe D, Musson N, Rosenbek JC. (2008). Swallowing and Dysphagia Rehabilitation: Translating Principles of Neural Plasticity into Clinically Oriented Evidence. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51: S276-S300. This article breaks down the principles of neural plasticity. Neural [...]
What is "Usual Care" in Dysphagia Rehabilitation: A Survey of USA Dysphagia Practice Patterns by Giselle D. Carnaby and Lindsay Harenberg. This article was found on the Dysphagia Journal website DOI 10.1007/s00455-013-9467-8. This article surveyed members of ASHA SIG 13. They were questioned on experience, work setting, schooling and treatment options given a scenario of [...]
One Day......... I was sitting and thinking today. There are so many therapists that I have seen that are sub-par, (none of my friends of course!) It made me stop and think that every patient, client and student deserves to have the best of the best as far as therapy goes. I don't want to [...]
How do you assess respiration when completing a swallow evaluation? Do you assess respiration during a swallow evaluation? What methods can be utilized to assess respiration during swallowing? There are several really good articles available. Dr. Bonnie Martin-Harris has been a leader in researching respiration and swallowing. Below are links to a few abstracts of [...]