Course Description

Clinicians across multiple healthcare settings manage swallowing disorders. However, formal and informal training on normal and impaired swallowing is lacking and inconsistent across academic and clinical training domains. Critical thinking in dysphagia management is needed to significantly shift clinical practice patterns. The overall goals of this course are to increase the use of objective physiologic metrics, to utilize a clinical decision tree, and to empower clinical care providers with critical talking points to advocate for resources for patients with dysphagia. In order to successfully complete this self-study course, participants must pass the post-test with 80% accuracy. 

Course Objectives

  1. Identify inconsistencies in clinical decision making for traditional and emerging treatment techniques.
  2. Learn how to apply objective metric based measures to establish a diagnostic baseline and treatment gains in dysphagia management.
  3. Derive physiologically based treatments to address several of the most common challenging swallowing pathophysiologies.
  4. Learn to create and use a physiologically guided clinical decision tree to incorporate into your everyday practice.



Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Ianessa Humbert

Dr. Humbert is an Associate Professor at the University of Florida in the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. She has expertise in swallowing and swallowing disorders. Learn More

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Critical Thinking in Dysphagia Management

    • Elucidating Inconsistencies Introduction

    • Elucidating Inconsistencies in Dysphagia Management

    • Redefining Normal Overview

    • Redefining Normal

    • Clinical Decision Trees Overview

    • Intro to Clinical Decision Tree

    • Clinical Decision Tree Part 1: Clinical Exam

    • Clinical Decision Tree Part 2: Instrumental Exam

    • Applications of the Clinical Decision Tree: A Case Example

    • Clinical Decisions Overview

    • Supporting your clinical decisions with physiologically guided metrics

    • Motor Learning overview

    • Principles of Motor Learning in Dysphagia Management

    • Principles of Plasticity Overview

    • Prinicples of Plasticity in Dysphagia Management

    • Skill vs. Strength: The Great Debate

    • Respiratory Strength Training Overview

    • Application of Respiratory Strength Training to Dysphagia Management

    • E-stim overview

    • Application of Electrical Stimulation in Dysphagia Management

    • E-stim Workshop Resources

    • Biofeedback overview

    • Applications of Biofeedback in Dysphagia Management

    • Biofeedback Workshop Resources

    • Advocacy in Dysphagia Management

    • What Every Patient Needs: Dysphagia Advocacy
  • 2

    Handouts

    • Advocacy

    • Applications of Respiratory Strength Training to Dysphagia Management

    • Intro to Clinical Decision Tree

    • Clinical Decision Tree_Clinical Exam

    • Clinical Decision Tree_Instrumental Exam

    • Clinical Decision Tree_Case Example

    • Compensatory Strategies and Rehab Potential

    • Elucidating Inconsistencies in Dysphagia Management

    • Principles of Motor Learning

    • Principles of Plasticity

    • Redefining Normal Overview

    • Skill vs Strength_Humbert

    • Skill vs Strength Debate_Plowman

    • Supporting Clinical Decisions with Physiologically Guided Metrics
  • 3

    Additional Resources

    • EAT-10 Swallowing Assessment Tool

    • Peak Expiratory Flow Rate Normal Values

    • Swallow Norms Cheat Sheet

    • Swallow Norms Reference List
  • 4

    Wrapping Up

    • Post-Course Quiz

    • Evaluation form