Are You Experiencing Difficulties with Eating, Drinking or Swallowing?
Our Dysphagia Specialists Can Help You Regain Quality of Life by Enabling Safe and Comfortable Swallowing
Dysphagia: experiencing difficulty with swallowing food and / or drink
Being able to eat and drink safely is not only vital to keeping us nourished and well, mealtimes and eating together with loved ones are important social experiences that contribute a great deal to our quality of life.
When people experience difficulties with the fundamental human function of swallowing, the impact this can have on their enjoyment of key parts of their day to day life and relationships can be soul destroying.
Our team of dedicated, experienced and qualified specialist dysphagia therapists assess and provide treatment for adults with eating, drinking or swallowing difficulties for a range of conditions such as:
Stroke
TBI
Progressive or other neurological conditions
Head and neck cancer
How Our Specialist Dysphagia Speech & Language Therapists Can Help
Our dysphagia service provides clients with the latest evidence-based treatment which may include exercises, postural/behavioural modifications and diet recommendations. We follow the IDDSI framework in how we assess and treat our clients and for the provision of diet modification recommendations.
We can also provide GERD/ reflux counselling and pre-chemo/ surgery counselling.
Our work is holistic and client centred; we strongly believe in working jointly with our clients and their families and carers to incorporate their goals and expectations into our treatment plans and make a positive difference to the lives of our clients.
How Do I Know if I Have Dysphagia?
A person is considered a candidate for dysphagia therapy when they:
Show signs of or are at risk of aspiration (inhaling bits of food or drink into your lungs as opposed to it going down into your stomach)
Have difficulty managing a variety of foods
Are unable to meet their nutritional needs through eating (or by mouth)
Have difficulty during mealtimes because swallowing is unenjoyable, takes a long time, or is effortful