Guest: Sarah Breshears, MA, CCC-SLP

Today, we continue our special series in collaboration with the Dysphagia Outreach Project in honor of Dysphagia Awareness Month, this time to speak about strokes with Sarah Breshears. This amazing woman, an SLP in her sixth year of practice, working in an acute hospital setting, is the creative powerhouse behind Short and Sweet Speech, and on top of it all, she is the Instagram Manager for Dysphagia Outreach Project. She leads a team of five women who create content that is engaging and informative, reaching those who would benefit from DOP’s mission. We kick things off with the moment of divine intervention that set Sarah on the path to becoming an SLP, before chatting about how she got involved with DOP. From there, we wind our way into the heavy topic of strokes, beginning with what happens to the brain when somebody has one, the effects it can have on their life, and how to recognize early symptoms.

We also get into how strokes can result in dysphagia, and then move on to best practices for intervention and recovery, where we highlight the necessity of PT and OT. Our conversation covers the importance of instrumental assessment for dysphagia and the dangers of recommending the chin tuck swallow wholesale as well. Before wrapping up, Sarah gives us all her top tips for lowering the risk factors for strokes, so be sure to listen along with us today and learn all that Sarah has to share.