Adult Dysphagia

What’s involved:

This program is focused on oral-motor and pharyngeal swallow skills.
Before your initial assessment we will send you an in depth feeding case history form to complete for yourself or family member, and ask you to send us any previous reports (e.g. from a modified barium swallow assessment). Please take your time completing this intake form, as it will provide us with a comprehensive understanding of the feeding history, and save time during initial consultation. During the assessment, we will observe you or your family member eating to assess feeding skills with different food textures, and determine challenges resulting from specific feeding skill difficulties (oral-motor, pharyngeal swallow). Based on the assessment findings, we will then create a plan of care to help you or your family member to learn how to eat a variety of food textures.

Changing Tides is one of the few clinics in Australia offering neuromuscular electrical stimulation (VitalStim Plus) as part of our therapeutic services. VitalStim Plus Therapy is a non-invasive therapy that uses an electrical current to stimulate the muscles responsible for swallowing. It is the only FDA-cleared device for treatment of dysphagia (swallowing difficulty), and research has proven when it’s used in conjunction with traditional swallowing exercises, it can result in significantly improved swallowing skills. See State of the Art Technology for more info. Eligibility to be determined during initial assessment.