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Showing posts from December, 2018

Dysphagia: I Think I've Heard Of That Before...

Dysphagia. Seems like a funny word when you don’t know the definition of it. A person might not even come across this word unless their mother or father get diagnosed with dementia or Parkinson’s or if a loved one has a stroke or the SLP dreaded, aspiration pneumonia. Even a bad enough UTI can cause someone to have the symptoms of dysphagia! Dysphagia is, according to ASHA, defined as problems involving the oral cavity, pharynx, esophagus, or gastroesophageal junction. That’s just a lot of words to tell you it means “difficulty swallowing”. It can be the scariest part of an SLP’s job, but in my opinion, it can be one of the most interesting. An SLP can work with patients with dysphagia in a variety of settings. Either in a skilled nursing facility, hospital, long term care, and yes, even in schools. Prevalence of dysphagia is difficult to assess as it can be seen over many different diagnoses and diseases, but approximately 1 in 25 adults will experience a swallowing problem in the Un

The Functions of That Pesky Frontal Lobe

I feel like people say, "Did you know that the brain isn't fully formed until 25!?" often as a "shocker-did-you-know" fact. Yes, in fact, newest studies are showing that the pre-frontal cortex may not even be fully formed until our 30s. So, what gives? Aren't we fully functioning adults at the age of 18? While we are responsible for our own decisions legally at the age of 18, the frontal lobe of our brain, or the portion right behind our foreheads, takes significantly longer to fully develop. This part of our brain is responsible for executive functions . Executive functions are the tasks of anticipation, inferencing, planning, selecting goals, self-monitoring, taking and using feedback, and completing purposeful activities. If you are like me and are a 30-something (or older), you can see that the use of these executive functions definitely did not develop fully until at least your mid-twenties. This does not mean that you cannot make good decisions, be