One challenge in dysphagia rehabilitation is the complexity of swallowing itself. Swallowing involves a series of intricate muscle movements and coordination, and it can be challenging for individuals with dysphagia to gain optimal control. Principles of motor learning can greatly enhance dysphagia rehabilitation by providing a systematic framework for optimising the (re-) learning process and improving swallowing function. In this episode we talk to Prof. Kristan Leech, who is a physiotherapist...
Jun 29, 2023•40 min
A clinical setting that we have not yet covered in this podcast is the intensive care unit (ICU). We were very lucky to have Sarah Wallace OBE as our guest, as she brings a lot of expertise from working clinically as an SLT in critical care as well as conducting research in this field. In this episode, Sarah will explain why dysphagia on the ICU is multifactorial, why it is so important to restore airflow through the upper airway and how dysphagia clinicians take on a central role in weaning pat...
May 18, 2023•40 min
In dysphagia management we often think about how our patients can swallow food and liquids the safest and most efficient way and what consistencies are best suited for them. But what about nutritional and hydration needs in people with dysphagia? In this episode we speak to Prof. Rainer Wirth about different nutritional and hydration requirements for elderly people, people with presbyphagia and dysphagia and how we, as clinicians, can support our patients in meeting their nutritional and hydrati...
Apr 27, 2023•43 min
Dear English speaking listeners: This episode is in German. Es wurde Zeit für eine neue Folge auf Deutsch! Während der diesjährigen Tagung der deutschen Gesellschaft für Dysphagie (DGD) in Köln haben wir mit Prof. Stefanie Duchac über die videofluoroskopische Untersuchung des Schluckens (VFSS) gesprochen. Sie gibt einen Überblick über die technischen Fragen, erklärt die Relevanz der Frame Anzahl und Pulsrate und beleuchtet die Rolle der Videofluoroskopie im Dysphagiemanagement. Was kann man mit ...
Apr 18, 2023•37 min
Ultrasound is an emerging tool for the assessment of swallowing and treatment of dysphagia. But how can SLTs actually make use of it? And what does it add to our toolbox? To learn more about this new approach, we invited Jodi Allen. She explains what we can do with an ultrasound assessment, where its boundaries are and how we can implement it in our clinical practice. Helpful literature mentioned or discussed in this episode: Allen et al. (2022). An initial framework for use of ultrasound by spe...
Mar 10, 2023•28 min
Do you use oral trials in dysphagia management? Do you know what the current evidence base is? In short: oral trials are recommended frequently as a rehabilitation approach in clinical practice, but the evidence base to support it is scarce. So, how exactly do we apply oral trials as a dysphagia intervention? Which patients are suitable? Is it a safe and effective approach? Tune in to this episode to learn how Dr. Jacqueline Benfield answers these questions. She also shares her recent research f...
Feb 15, 2023•37 min
Our guest in this episode is Dr. Órla Gilheaney. Not only is she a clinician, lecturer and researcher working in the field of invisible conditions such as fibromyalgia, but she is also a person living with fibromyalgia herself. Fibromyalgia is a chronic disorder that can cause various symptoms such as widespread pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness, problems with mental processes (“fibro-fog”) and, among even more symptoms, dysphagia. Órla is a pioneer in researching dysphagia in people with fibromya...
Jan 16, 2023•39 min
Bodhi is now 3 years old. When he was about 6 weeks, his parents first noticed something was different. They now know that Bodhi has severe dysphagia but still don’t know the underlying cause. Bodhi’s mum Kelly talks about the different assessments Bodhi went through, the diagnoses he was given, the lack of awareness of paediatric dysphagia and the impact on a family’s life when having a child with swallowing difficulties. She also gives advice on what clinicians can do to support parents in thi...
Dec 15, 2022•50 min
How do we know what outcomes to measure and when to measure them when designing clinical trials? And how can we make studies more comparable, so that researchers measure the same outcomes with the same assessment at the same time points? One solution is the development and application of Core Outcome Sets (COS). Dr. Sarah Gorst and Dr. Nicola Harman share their knowledge on Core Outcome Sets, how they can help us as researchers and clinicians, how to conduct them and what to do if there is no CO...
Nov 21, 2022•38 min
Coughing and swallowing are two important functions, both providing airway protection and therefore being essential for survival. However, as students and clinicians we usually learn a lot more about swallowing than about coughing. And often, evaluating the cough function in the dysphagia assessment goes down with simply asking the patient to cough and subjectively assessing the effectiveness of the cough through listening to its quality. For this reason we invited Dr. Emma Wallace to speak abou...
Oct 17, 2022•54 min
Have you ever wondered what is going on in dysphagia experts’ minds when they are seeing a new patient for the first time? What details do they look out for? What are the rationales for upcoming steps in their clinical management? For this episode, we invited Dr Ulrike Frank and Dr James Curtis , two experienced clinicians and researchers, presented them a case scenario and accompanied them on their decision-making process through the acute phase until long-term rehabilitative assessment and tre...
Sep 26, 2022•51 min
Have you ever hit a paywall and could not access an article without being asked to pay for it? Wouldn’t it be great if all research would be transparent and openly available? In this episode we talk about open science in dysphagia research with James Borders . He takes a deep dive into the core practices of open science: pre-registration, self-archiving, gold open access, open data and registered reports. He also discusses the findings of a recent survey on the knowledge, implementation, and per...
Sep 05, 2022•37 min
In this episode we speak with Kristin, whose daughter Mackenzie had severe swallowing difficulties. Kristin talks openly about their journey from the first cough and choke until a diagnosis and treatment. She also shares the struggles of not getting information but how the internet could help her. She also gives some pretty good advice to all clinicians working with kids with feeding and swallowing difficulties. SPOILER ALERT: Do not look at the resources linked below if you do not want to find ...
Aug 08, 2022•36 min
Dear English speaking listeners: this is part 2 of our German episode. We will return later in August with English episodes. Im zweiten Teil unseres Gesprächs zu “Dysphagie bei Menschen mit ALS” mit Ulrich Birkmann geht es um die Therapie von Dysphagien und wie wir unseren Fokus bei der Behandlung von reaktiv auf proaktiv lenken können. Wer Ulis tolles Projekt “Dysphagie 2 Go” zusammen mit Yasemin (immer) noch nicht kennt, sollte unbedingt mal auf ihrer Homepage vorbeischauen. Hier gibt es regel...
Aug 01, 2022•41 min
Dear English speaking listeners: this episode is in German. We will be back with English episodes in August. Anlässlich der diesjährigen Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Dysphagie (DGD) in Potsdam haben wir eine Episode mit Ulrich Birkmann auf Deutsch aufgenommen. Wir widmen uns einem komplexen, aber sehr spannenden Thema: Dysphagie bei Amyotropher Lateralsklerose (ALS). Uli erklärt in dieser Episode die Pathophysiologie der ALS, die Rolle des ersten und des zweiten Motoneurons und di...
Jul 25, 2022•35 min
Part 2 of “How to PhD” is all about the process of finding a good mentor for your PhD project. Our guest Dr. Nadine Connor has mentored many PhD students herself. In this episode, she shares her experiences by explaining different styles of mentoring, what mentors and mentees can or should expect from each other and how you can find out if someone could be a suitable mentor for you. This can also be transferred to bachelor or master projects, of course. Here are some further helpful information:...
Jul 11, 2022•29 min
This time, we have two great guests who share their very own experiences with doing a PhD: Dr Irene Battel has just recently finished her PhD at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and Beatrice Manduchi is right in the middle of her PhD at the University of Toronto, Canada. They talk about the highs and lows and the importance of doing a PhD in the field of speech and language therapy and especially in dysphagia. They also share helpful information about the different systems in Europe and North Am...
Jul 11, 2022•43 min
Dr. Margaret Walshe joined us for this episode to discuss the first step in the process of dysphagia assessment: screening. She shares her expertise on who should be screened when and by whom and gives recommendations on how to decide for the best suitable screening tool. She explains why it is important to look beyond sensitivity and specificity when assessing the diagnostic accuracy of a test and what predictive values and likelihood ratios can tell us about the quality of a screening tool. Re...
Jun 13, 2022•39 min
In episode four we speak to Prof. Shaun O’Keeffe. He and his colleagues have published the article “Aspiration, risk and risk feeding: A critique of the Royal College of Physicians guidance on care of people with eating and drinking difficulties” ( O’Keeffe et al., 2021 ), which was awarded “Annual Best Paper Award 2021” by the ACS Journal. While talking about his paper, Shaun highlights why the language we use in clinical practice and research matters and what the relation between dysphagia, asp...
May 09, 2022•48 min
In this episode we speak to Dr. Cynthia Fox, CEO and co-founder of LSVT Global and LSVT LOUD faculty. The Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT or LSVT LOUD) is an approach that was originally developed to treat voice and speech disorders in people with Parkinson’s disease. Over the years, changes in swallowing have been observed in patients with Parkinson’s post LSVT LOUD and pilot studies have investigated the effects of LSVT LOUD on swallowing in this patient population. But does this mean that...
Apr 11, 2022•42 min
Inhaling, exhaling, swallowing, exhaling … and all over again. Breathing and swallowing are two natural parts of our human lives. But how does it actually work? How do our brains coordinate it? And what happens when a respiratory or neurological disease is present? In this episode Dr. Ulrike Frank shares her expertise on respiration, swallowing and the coordination of the two. She also gives great insights in the assessment and treatment of respiratory swallow coordination in patients with respi...
Mar 08, 2022•1 hr 4 min
Oromotor exercises and intraoral sensory stimulation are basic treatment approaches that are oftentimes used when treating patients with neurogenic dysphagia. But what does the evidence say about these interventions that are part of most clinician’s daily work? We start this podcast with the big question: “Do we know what we are doing?” when implementing intraoral treatments in neurogenic dysphagia therapy. Dr. Ivy Cheng shares her expertise on this topic and provides great insights in the curre...
Feb 16, 2022•31 min
In this introduction you can learn more about us, Julia and Jule, and what to expect from this podcast.
Feb 16, 2022•3 min
