I'm a speech-language pathologist & co-founder of Tactus. Tactus offers evidence-based apps for aphasia therapy and lots of free resources, articles, and education - like this newsletter. Sign up to get my updates 1-2 times a month.
💪 Making Dysphagia Therapy Easier - and More Effective
|
Hello Reader, A student once asked me, “When did you get comfortable treating dysphagia?” 🤔 Honestly, I don’t think anyone ever does. It’s high-stakes, with limited and constantly changing research. You have to stay on your toes! That’s why I’m excited to share two new resources to make swallowing therapy simpler, more targeted, and easier to track: 📚 NEW Blog: What SLPs Need to Know: Dysphagia Exercises gives you practical guidance for swallowing treatment Dysphagia is a field that's always changing, and we clinicians must adjust with the science. Back in the early 2000s, my toolkit contained lemon glycerine swabs and cornstarch thickener. Today, it’s resistance devices, electrodes, and other tools reflecting how far our understanding has come. Dysphagia itself is often underestimated—1 in 6 adults report difficulty swallowing, and half have never told a clinician (Adkins et al., 2021). Beyond health risks, it can rob people of everyday joys: sharing meals, dining out, or feeling safe when they eat (George et al., 2021). But here's the good news: for the right patients, the right swallowing exercises can create lasting physiological changes, leading to meaningful, functional gains. 🎯💪
|
📚 You'll learn:
✅ Evidence and “how-to” for 9 exercises, including Effortful Swallow, CTAR, Shaker, EMST, Effortful Pitch Glide, and Mendelsohn Maneuver 🏋️
✅ Tips for effective home practice 📝
✅ Principles of motor learning 🧠
| Read the Blog |
NEW TREATMENT: Track Effortful Swallows with Ease 👀👍
Get better outcomes with less guesswork. The new Effortful Swallow treatment in the Virtual Rehab Center guides patients with clear video instructions and motivating repetitions.
It tracks effort and fatigue so you can make informed treatment decisions based on real data, not just "I did my exercises."
💻 Easy home practice – guided and structured so patients know exactly what to do
📈 Meaningful progress tracking – data you can use to fine-tune treatment
😌 Built-in pacing – rest breaks help manage fatigue and keep practice sustainable
🧠 Smart feedback – based on motor learning principles, feedback is intermittent to promote self-reliance
🎥 See it in action here:
Learn more about how it works
| Try it Now |
Try the Virtual Rehab Center for Free 😃
Sign up for a Virtual Rehab Center trial to access:
🤩 45+ evidence-based treatments (access through the web on any device!)
📁 80+ downloadable PDF handouts for patient & clinical education
🙌 Auto-generated SOAP notes & SMART goal assistant
💻 Free patient homework… and more!
👉 Start your 21-day free trial now and check out this growing platform. No obligation, cancel anytime.
With so many dysphagia exercises out there, I hope these resources make your work a little easier, and your patients’ progress a little stronger. ❤️
All the best,
Megan
P.S. This is just our FIRST interactive swallowing treatment. Stay tuned for more launching soon!! 🚀
Megan @ Tactus Therapy
I'm a speech-language pathologist & co-founder of Tactus. Tactus offers evidence-based apps for aphasia therapy and lots of free resources, articles, and education - like this newsletter. Sign up to get my updates 1-2 times a month.
When we hear “aphasia,” we think of language problems—like trouble speaking or understanding. 🗣️👂 But for many people with aphasia, that’s only part of the story. In fact, research shows that 79% of people with severe aphasia also have problems with something called executive functions (Olsson et al., 2019). 🧠 What Are Executive Functions—and Why Do They Matter? Executive functions are thinking skills that help us manage everyday life. These skills allow us to plan, stay focused, identify...
Hello Reader, As SLPs, we're trained to think about language first when it comes to aphasia: word finding, reading, writing. But what if getting stuck on words, poor strategy use, or lack of carryover isn’t just a language issue? Impaired executive functioning—like poor inhibition, reduced working memory, or inflexible thinking—may play a bigger role than we think. 📊 In fact, research showed 79% of participants with severe aphasia also had executive dysfunction (Olsson et al. 2019). 🤯 That's...
Hello Reader, Last week's new blog tackles one of the trickiest (but most important) areas of cognitive rehab: executive functioning. If you missed it, catch up here: 👉 What SLPs Need to Know About Executive Functioning Executive functioning (EF) is core to recovery, independence, and well-being. It can impact mental health, and may even be affected by everyday behaviors. A brand-new study found that college students who had just used social media performed worse on EF-related cognitive...