Dysphagia and role of speech therapists

Dysphagia and role of speech therapists

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By Iram Sharif

         Dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, is a condition that can be caused as a result of surgery, due to neurological conditions (e.g., Parkinson’s disease or stroke), digestive disorders including acid reflux or head injuries and can also be a part of normal aging. Children with developmental disabilities like autism also often have dysphagia. People with dysphagia are at risk for choking, dehydration, malnutrition and pneumonia, which can be triggered when food or drink enter the lungs. Signs of dysphagia may include drooling and poor oral management, food or liquid remaining in the oral cavity after the swallow, inability to maintain lip closure, leading to food and/or liquids leaking from the oral cavity, food and/or liquids leaking from the nasal cavity, complaints of food "sticking”, globus sensation or complaints of a "fullness" in the neck, complaints of pain when swallowing, wet or gurgly sounding voice during or after eating or drinking, coughing during or right after eating or drinking, difficulty coordinating breathing and swallowing, recurring aspiration pneumonia/respiratory infection and/or fever, extra effort or time needed to chew or swallow, changes in eating habits—specifically, avoidance of certain foods/drinks & weight loss or dehydration from not being able to eat enough. Treatment of dysphagia depends on its cause. It involves multidisciplinary team approach.

Role of speech-language therapist

        They can advise for food management for patients with swallowing issues and in doing so they work as life survival person. Having stroke often paralyzes one side of the throat, a swallowing specialist like a speech-language pathologist first ​might use an imaging test to identify what exactly is going wrong, and then coach the patient on ways to tilt his or her head while eating in order to better prevent food from getting into the airway.​ Mouth and throat exercises can also help patients boost their swallowing abilities that can be administered by speech-language therapists/pathologists. They can administer many types of exercises, maneuvers, compensatory mechanisms and postural techniques to enhance the normal swallowing in patients of paralysis, strokes, dementia and many others.