Down the Hatch - The Swallowing Podcast

Recently, an overwhelming 92% of clinicians responded “NO” to the question: Did you feel prepared to assess and treat swallowing disorders upon graduation (Plowman & Humbert 2018). 45% of SLP survey respondents think that more dysphagia courses would improve competency (McCoy & Desai 2018). To help address this need, Down the Hatch (The Swallowing Podcast) has launched The Swallowing Physiology Series, where several oropharyngeal events that are important for swallowing will be spontaneously discussed by hosts Drs. Ianessa Humbert and Alicia Vose. Further, we will indicate whether each event can be assessed in clinical evaluations versus instrumental evaluations. Since podcasts are audio only, consider subscribing to the Swallowing Training and Education Portal for detailed visuals of these events (stepcommunity.com). Also, watch a video here on differentiating swallow delay from pre-mature spillage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXUHPiRVITc

ASHA... What are you doing for your membership? For quality improvement of dysphagia management? This is a common question among ASHA members. In this installment of Down the Hatch (The Swallowing Podcast)Host Ianessa Humbert is joined by ASHA President hopeful Luis Riquelme PhD and colleague Ed Bice to discuss ASHA's role in maintaining clinical competence among speech language pathologists, especially those engaged in dysphagia management.

Recently, an overwhelming 92% of clinicians responded “NO” to the question: Did you feel prepared to assess and treat swallowing disorders upon graduation (Plowman & Humbert 2018). 45% of SLP survey respondents think that more dysphagia courses would improve competency (McCoy & Desai 2018). To help address this need, Down the Hatch (The Swallowing Podcast) has launched The Swallowing Physiology Series, where several oropharyngeal events that are important for swallowing will be spontaneously discussed by hosts Ianessa Humbert and Alicia Vose. Further, we will indicate whether each event can be assessed in clinical evaluations versus instrumental evaluations. Since podcasts are audio only, consider subscribing to the Swallowing Training and Education Portal for detailed visuals of these events (stepcommunity.com). See more swallows here, including the squirt swallow, that is discussed in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq8_kb-4JkisYLtrHMQ8bnw/videos

Recently, an overwhelming 92% of clinicians responded “NO” to the question: Did you feel prepared to assess and treat swallowing disorders upon graduation (Plowman & Humbert 2018). 45% of SLP survey respondents think that more dysphagia courses would improve competency (McCoy & Desai 2018). To help address this need, Down the Hatch (The Swallowing Podcast) has launched The Swallowing Physiology Series, where several oropharyngeal events that are important for swallowing will be spontaneously discussed by hosts Ianessa Humbert and Alicia Vose. Further, we will indicate whether each event can be assessed in clinical evaluations versus instrumental evaluations. Since podcasts are audio only, consider subscribing to the Swallowing Training and Education Portal for detailed visuals of these events (stepcommunity.com).

Do you think we need more swallowing therapies? Do you hand out a standard list of therapy worksheets for many of your patients with swallowing problems? Have you ever thought "Tell me what to do!" when faced with making decisions about treating patients? In this installment of Down the Hatch (The Swallowing Podcast), Alicia and Ianessa discuss the dilemma facing many SLPs who treat dysphagia. Alicia and I suggest focusing on the process of deciding whether therapy is needed and/or which therapy should be recommended, and we suspect that very little time is spent on clinical decision-making (rather just the execution of therapy). This is a skill that SLPs should possess and is required to actually provide the correct individualized treatment, rather than simply providing the same list of swallowing therapies for all of individuals with dysphagia.

The data are abysmal! In a recent publication, partly authored by Down the Hatch Hosts Alicia Vose and Ianessa Humbert, we reveal that SLP identification of swallowing impairments is poor to moderate. Why? Many could not differentiate disordered swallowing events from normal ones. In this installment with Special Guests Justine Allen and Michela Mir (both Doctoral Students and SLPs with clinical experience), we discuss this proverbial Ground Zero. Acceptance: This is the first STEP toward SLP competence in Dysphagia Management.

To address feeding and swallowing impairments in the pediatric population, one requires highly specialized knowledge. Still, pediatric dysphagia is extremely understudied and underfunded and SLP clinicians often learn on the job. In this episode, Dr. Emily Zimmerman, an expert in pediatric dysphagia, primes the Down the Hatch (Swallowing Podcast)listening audience as well as hosts Ianessa Humbert and Alicia Vose on how to approach pediatric dysphagia.

The field of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) faces a critical shortage of the faculty essential to train the future workforce of Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists. Despite a predominance of women in the field, men receive doctoral degrees, academic leadership positions, and ASHA awards at disproportionately higher rates than women. In this episode of Down the Hatch, Drs. Ianessa Humbert and Nicole Rogus-Pulia, authors of a recently accepted paper on this topic, explore how implicit gender bias may impact female advancement in CSD. The paper is accepted for publication in the American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP).

Diet modifications and swallowing exercises are a mainstay in dysphagia rehabilitation, but do they truly prevent aspiration pneumonia or rehabilitate impaired swallowing? Do researchers have a responsibility to conduct studies that justify or refute frequent SLP use of thickened liquids, swallowing compensatory strategies and/or maneuvers? In this Down the Hatch episode, Dr. Ianessa Humbert and Alicia Vose (doctoral candidate) discuss the clinical decision to not prescribe thickened liquids as well as literature that addresses whether there is evidence to support swallowing exercises to rehabilitate dysphagia.

Does more pharyngeal residue mean that there is reduced pharyngeal pressure? Do greater pharyngeal pressures occur when swallowing thicker boluses? Does the Mendelsohn Maneuver reduce UES pressures? Dr. Corinne Jones of the University of Wisconsin (Madison) joins Down the Hatch (The Swallowing Podcast) as our special guest. We discuss Dr. Jones' area of expertise in High Resolution Manometry (HRM) research, including pharyngeal and UES pressures during swallowing.

This installment is focused on the topic of weakness and fatigue. Have you ever decided that one of your dysphagic patients needs strength training? If so, can you define weakness or fatigue? In this episode, we discuss weakness and fatigue with Dr. Leo Ferreira, an associate professor in the department of Applied Physiology & Kinesiology at the University of Florida. He is a clinically trained physical therapist and scientist who studies muscle biology and aims to develop new therapies for skeletal muscle weakness in chronic diseases. Our aim in this podcast is to encourage clinicians who treat dysphagia to re-think whether their patients are truly weak, versus whether they have timing, range of motion, or even sensory abnormalities. Listen, consider, and enjoy!

"If we've got an area of our field where somebody dies because we made a mistake, then we have got to have standards the same way every other medical profession does." Julie Barkmeier Kraemer, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, a voice, swallowing, and airway disorder expert, roused up your Down the Hatch (Swallowing Podcast)hosts Ianessa and Alicia and in our Expert Rant #2 (AKA "Passion Piss-off"). Dr. Kraemer recommends SLP behaviors that win the confidence of physicians and, especially, for SLPs to avoid "lolly-gagging" into a medical institution (

Do you feel that SLPs are at the mercy of Radiology? Is there any chance that SLPs could run videofluoroscopy studies by themselves? In this installment of Down the Hatch (The Swallowing Podcast) our special guest is Jen Sirera R.T. (R), BHSc, CIIP, the Technical Director (and former Radiology Technologist) of Radiology at Shands Hospital at the University of Florida. We discuss access to fluoroscopy, increasing to 30 pulses per second, and recording MBS studies. Bottom line: SLPs should build a relationship with their Department of Radiology AND consider reaching out to mobile MBS and FEES companies to fulfill their patients' needs!

2017 was a year with several hot topics in dysphagia management. Join Alicia Vose and Ianessa Humbert with special guest Ed Bice as they discuss electrical stimulation, thermal tactile stimulation, ASHA, cookbook therapy, cyber bullying and many more exciting topics.

Are you a research-thumping, Evidence Based Practice evangelical? Or, perhaps you are tired of hearing that your go-to therapies are “not evidence based”? This installment of Down the Hatch (The Swallowing Podcast), entitled “Evidence Based Practice or Theory Based Practice” explores whether Evidence Based Practice is scientifically sound and practically relevant for busy clinicians. Special guest Andrew Lotto Ph.D., introduces Theory Based Practice and explains why it is a different and potentially useful alternative for clinicians to consider when interpreting research literature to guide clinical practice.