Season Finale: Moving Beyond Our Reflection

In a startling sample of patients, 67% of those with a modified diet and 61% of those with feeding tubes who were then assessed with FEES did not appear to even have dysphagia (Bice et al., 2024)!

Soon to be Dr. Matthew Ward (🤞April 18th) and Tim discuss jarring data from Matt’s recent publication Dysphagia and Diets in Skilled Nursing Facilities When Patient's Health Status Changes: The Role of Imaging. Moving beyond the angst of the metaphorical mirror of dysphagia management, we highlight the transformative potential that is possible through reflection and a growth-mindset.

Episode Sponsored by https://www.sasspllc.com/
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Guest Bio
Matthew Ward received his B.A. from Lipscomb University and his M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from Tennessee State University. He is currently studying for a Ph.D. in Health and Human Performance from Middle Tennessee State University, defending his dissertation two days after this episode's release! He has been a medical speech-language pathologist since 2012.  He is a certified endoscopist, certified endoscopy trainer, and the Director of Clinical Education for SA Swallowing Services. He has been a medical speech-language pathologist since 2012, and he currently serves on the Board of Communication Disorders and Sciences for the state of Tennessee. He teaches basic and advanced FEES courses, and he teaches medical speech-language pathology courses at Middle Tennessee State University. Matt has been an invited speaker at colleges, state and local associations, international podcasts, and multiple international medical universities. He has published multiple articles on swallowing and swallowing disorders in peer-reviewed journals, and his research interests include swallowing, health outcomes related to swallowing disorders, and health outcomes associated with the treatment of swallowing disorders when treated by speech-language pathologists.

Resources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38109943/

Please let us know your thoughts on season 1 and your ideas for season 2!
https://www.swallowthegap.com/survey

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:29 Connecting with Matthew Ward and his research
• 15:07 Finding the middle ground
• 19:26 Our existential crisis
• 24:04 Moving forward despite… Or because of...? Our shortcomings
• 43:20 Hope from out of a crisis
• 48:24 Wrapping up
• 53:01 More than meets the eye: Reflection, resilience, and compassion
• 1:00:02 Outro - Survey link & more