Swallowing Therapy
Common symptoms of swallowing impairment
CHEWING/SWALLOWING
Pain when swallowing food, drink, or medications
Gurgly sounding voice during or after eating, drinking, or taking meds
Food not going down as easily as it once did
Coughing during or right after eating/drinking
Chewing taking longer than normal
STRENGTH/COORDINATION
Difficulty coordinating breaths during eating/drinking
Food/drink still in the mouth after meals
Drooling or food/drink spilling from the mouth
Difficulty maintaining adequate lip seal around a cup or straw
History of pneumonia or aspiration pneumonia
How Deeper Roots Can Help
At Deeper Roots Speech Therapy, we perform a swallowing evaluation to determine the location of the problem, causes, and how to treat the issue. We often provide education in safe swallowing strategies, food texture modification if necessary, and exercise programs specific to swallowing.
We are also certified in Ampcare ESP, a swallowing protocol that combines NMES (neuromuscular electrical stimulation) with resistive exercises and a restorative posture device to stimulate swallowing anatomy, speed up airway closure time, and reduce chances of aspiration.