Many people classify swallowing and feeding intervention as a “medical” service that shouldn’t be addressed in the schools.  

This is a very black and white (and inaccurate) way of thinking. 

Children with complex medical needs have a right to FAPE. 

Measuring whether or not students are accessing their curriculum can’t be solely based on grades; which is unfortunately what many teams default to when it comes to determining if services and accommodations are educationally relevant. 

That’s why I invited pediatric swallowing and feeding specialist Carolyn Dolby to the De Facto Leaders podcast to talk about what school teams can, and SHOULD be doing for swallowing and feeding in the schools. 

Carolyn Dolby, MS, CCC-SLP, specializes in pediatric feeding and swallowing evaluations and interventions as the Dysphagia Support Speech Language Pathologist for a large public school in the Pacific NorthWest. In her prior experience as a clinician, she has served populations across the lifespan in medical, in-home, and private practice settings. Her graduate-level courses for the University of Houston prepare the next generation of school-based dysphagia providers. In her ‘Bite-Sized Advice’ private practice, she provides consultation services and dysphagia support nationwide. She presents locally and nationally with a focus on delivering dynamic dysphagia services.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✅The phases of swallowing, including the “pre-oral phase” schools need to consider.

✅How the environment and events leading up to meal times impact a kid's ability to eat safely and efficiently in the lunchroom. 

✅Why the “curriculum” isn’t just about academic areas, and removing a child from an opportunity to socialize can be a violation of their rights. 

✅Children need to be able to access their LRE. They can’t do this if they can’t maintain adequate nutrition and hydration across the school day.

✅Court cases, legal mandates, and which “medical” services schools should be providing. 

You can connect with Carolyn at [email protected].

Listen to the School of Speech Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAqLI0-BOrrL4ftJWyDf1HewdiHAjKGuJ 

Listen to my interview on the School of Speech Podcast called “Positioning Yourself as a Literacy and Executive Functioning Expert on Your School Team” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmY0MR6H7QM&list=PLAqLI0-BOrrL4ftJWyDf1HewdiHAjKGuJ&index=4

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Emily Homer’s Students Eat Safely Website. Link here: https://www.emilymhomer.com

The International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative (IDDSI) website: https://iddsi.org

In this episode, I mention Language Therapy Advance Foundations, my program that helps SLPs create a system for language therapy. You can learn more about Language Therapy Advance Foundations here: https://drkarenspeech.com/languagetherapy/