Dysphagia Research Bites is the podcast for speech pathologists who want to stay evidence-based without spending hours in the library. Host Chantelle interviews practising SLPs, researchers, and clinician-researchers about their work, unpacking one research paper at a time and exploring how the findings translate into real clinical practice. It has been designed with the community and home-based SLP in mind, but is relevant wherever you work with adults with dysphagia.
Dysphagia Research Bites
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9 episodes
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Podcast Overview
Dysphagia Research Bites is the podcast for speech pathologists who want to stay evidence-based without spending hours in the library. Host Chantelle interviews practising SLPs, researchers, and clinician-researchers about their work, unpacking one research paper at a time and exploring how the findings translate into real clinical practice. It has been designed with the community and home-based SLP in mind, but is relevant wherever you work with adults with dysphagia.
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Publishing Since
2/25/2026
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Recent Episodes
June 18, 2026
Dysphagia In Developmental Disabilities "They Don't Read the Textbook" with Jen Biener
<p>What does it actually look like to assess swallowing difficulties in an adult who has eaten a certain way their entire life, and whose "textbook" may look nothing like yours? In this episode of Dysphagia Research Bites, Chantelle sits down with Jen Biener, a speech-language pathologist specialising in adults with developmental disabilities, to dig into a Dutch retrospective study on the prevalence and associated factors of swallowing difficulties in adults with intellectual disabilities aged 50 and over — and to unpack what it really means to assess and support this often-overlooked population.</p><p> </p><p><strong>In this episode we cover:</strong></p><ul><li>Why the terminology we use — dysphagia vs. feeding and swallowing difficulties — matters clinically and in research, and why both terms have a place depending on the setting</li><li>How to conduct a meaningful mealtime assessment, including the value of observing familiar caregivers feeding the person rather than jumping straight to a formal evaluation</li><li>Why mealtime dependency needs to be understood differently in people who have always been dependent for feeding, compared to someone who acquired that dependency after a stroke</li><li>Choking risk assessment in this population, including the limitations of existing tools and the power of instrumental assessment as a biofeedback tool</li><li>How to set people up for success before and during instrumental swallowing studies </li><li>The importance of clinical language: writing what you observe, not what you assume, and why "did not follow one-step commands" is very different from "cannot follow one-step commands"</li><li>Assessment tools and approaches Jen recommends, including the Dysphagia Disorder Survey, the Choking Risk Assessment, and the Functional Communication Profile - Revised</li><li>Why there is so little research on adults with intellectual disabilities, and why this population is, in many ways, historically new </li></ul><p> </p><p><strong>The publication this episode is based on:</strong></p><p>Sanders KJV, Elbers RG, Bastiaanse LP, Echteld MA, Evenhuis HM, Festen DAM. Prevalence of swallowing difficulties and associated factors in older people with intellectual disabilities. J Appl Res Intellectual Disability. 2024 May;37(3):e13209. doi: 10.1111/jar.13209. PMID: 38382915: <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38382915/">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38382915/</a></p><p> </p><p><strong>Other resources mentioned in this episode:</strong></p><ul><li>Dysphagia Disorder Survey (DDS) & Dysphagia Management & Staging Scale: <a href="https://sites.google.com/view/dysphagiaorg/the-dysphagia-disorder-survey">https://sites.google.com/view/dysphagiaorg/the-dysphagia-disorder-survey</a></li><li>Choking Risk Assessment & Pneumonia Risk Assessment: <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28822297/">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28822297/</a></li><li>Article on mealtime supports for people with ID: <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21988217/">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21988217/</a></li><li>Functional Communication Profile — Revised: <a href="https://www.wpspublish.com/fcp-r-functional-communication-profile-revised">https://www.wpspublish.com/fcp-r-functional-communication-profile-revised</a></li></ul><p> </p><p>For clinical resources and evidence-based dysphagia education beyond the podcast, head to: <a href="http://www.dysphagiabites.com/">www.dysphagiabites.com</a></p>
June 4, 2026
sEMG & The Evolution of Swallowing Rehabilitation with Professor Maggie-Lee Huckabee
<p>If there's one thing that hasn't aged well in dysphagia management, it's the idea that swallowing is only a reflex. Over the past few decades, our understanding of cortical control in swallowing has fundamentally shifted, and so have our approaches to rehabilitation. In this episode, Professor Maggie-Lee Huckabee walks us through that evolution: from reflex-based compensation, to muscle strengthening, to where we are now: skill-based training that targets neural networks and motor planning. We also get into the practical side of surface EMG biofeedback, what it actually is, how it differs from NMES, and how to use it clinically.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>In this episode we cover:</strong></p><ul><li>The distinction between sEMG and NMES </li><li>How our understanding of cortical control in swallowing has evolved, and what that means for how we approach rehabilitation</li><li>The shift from compensation-based approaches to muscle strengthening, and then to skill-based training</li><li>The importance of the cranial nerve examination in directing our rehabilitation approach</li><li>How skill-based swallowing impairments might look on VFSS</li><li>Practical application of sEMG biofeedback</li><li>BiSSkApp: an sEMG biofeedback system that patients can use at home while clinicians can have remote access to data</li></ul><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>The publication this episode is based on:</strong></p><p>Huckabee, M-L., Mills, M., Flynn, R., & Doeltgen, S. (2023). The evolution of swallowing rehabilitation and emergence of biofeedback modalities. Current Otorhinolaryngology Reports, 11, 144–153. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s40136-023-00451-8" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1007/s40136-023-00451-8</a></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Where to find the resources mentioned:</strong></p><p>BiSSkApp by Swallowing Technologies (SwalTech): <a href="https://swaltech.com/bisskapp/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://swaltech.com/bisskapp/</a></p>
May 21, 2026
Eating & Drinking with Acknowledged Risk: A Panel of SLPs Get Honest
<p>If you're a speech pathologist working in the community, particularly in Australia or with adults with developmental disabilities, this episode is for you. But if you work with risk feeding plans in any setting, including the UK, there's plenty here that will resonate too.</p><p>In this episode of Dysphagia Research Bites, Chantelle hosts a panel discussion with speech pathologists: Meredith Lane, Niall Taylor, Anna Coates, and Dr Lillian Krikheli, to unpack one of the most clinically and ethically complex areas in our field: Eating and Drinking with Acknowledged Risk (EDAR). </p><p>The panel explores why this practice looks so different across countries, settings, and service systems and follows on from a previous episode on the same topic, but with a guest with a medical background.</p><p><br /></p><p>In this episode we cover:</p><ul><li>The differences in terminology across countries</li><li>How community and hospital settings approach EDAR differently — and why community SLPs often bear the brunt of overly risk-averse policies</li></ul><ul><li>How supported disability accommodation settings can inadvertently remove client autonomy and de-skill individuals</li><li>Why business decisions — not clinical ones — are often driving restrictive mealtime policies in community organisations</li><li>What coroner's reports actually tell us about SLP accountability in dysphagia-related incidents</li><li>The concept of dignity of risk and how to balance it with duty of care</li><li>Why risk to pleasure, social engagement, and identity deserves as much attention as aspiration risk</li><li>The problem with waivers and how they oversimplify complex clinical decisions</li><li>What patient-centred decision-making actually looks like in practice</li></ul><p><br /></p><p>Additional Resources:</p><p><br /></p><p>You can find more information on Eating & Drinking with Acknowledged Risk here:</p><p><br /></p><p>https://www.rcslt.org/members/clinical-guidance/eating-and-drinking-with-acknowledged-risks-risk-feeding/</p><p><br /></p><p>https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/Common/Uploaded%20files/Smart%20Suite/Smart%20Library/1b67af79-1074-4a30-a9a0-61f3eccb7b2d/20200221%20Position%20Statement%20Risk%20Feeding.pdf</p>
9 total episodes available
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