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 die Diagnostik von Dysphagien bei Menschen mit ALS. Und wer das tolle Projekt “Dysphagie 2 Go” von Uli und Yasemin noch nicht kennt, schaut gerne mal auf ihrer Homepage vorbei. Hier gibt es regelmäßig spannende, kompakte online Webinare.

Literatur und Webseiten, die in der Episode genannt werden:

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:

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 America and give tips on how to find funding, a mentor and of course, motivation.

By the way, Irene and Beatrice have their own podcast! Go check out their podcast (it’s in Italian) “Disfagia in Evidenza”

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.

Research studies that Margaret talks about and further helpful information (note: simply click on the author’s name for open access, where available):

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, aspiration and pneumonia is. He also critically reflects on the traditional use of diet modification in the management of dysphagia.

Here are two more articles that Shaun talks about (note: for open access simply click on the author’s name):

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 we can apply LSVT LOUD as a dysphagia treatment in patients with Parkinson’s? What about Atypical Parkinsonian Syndromes? We asked Cynthia all kinds of questions about LSVT LOUD, the relationship with swallowing and the current state of evidence.

Literature that we talk about in this episode and further helpful information:

LSVT Global Webinar: What we know about LSVT LOUD and swallowing impairments associated with Parkinson’s disease

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 respiratory/neurological diseases.

Literature that we talk about as well in this episode and further helpful information:
(please note: simply click on the authors’ names to be directed to an open access version of the article; in some cases this may be the authors’ manuscript)

A great overview by Ulrike, but only in German and without open access:
Frank, U. (2018). Atem-Schluck-Koordination: Grundlagen, Einflussfaktoren und klinische Implikationen. LogoTHEMA, 15(1), 6-9.

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 current evidence that she synthesized in her recently published “Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of intraoral treatments for neurogenic oropharyngeal dysphagia” (Cheng, Sasegbon & Hamdy, 2021).

Articles that we talk about as well in this episode and further helpful information:

In this introduction you can learn more about us, Julia and Jule, and what to expect from this podcast.