DocMooreSLP

There is a patient that I have been working with for over a year. Though we have made tremendous progress within this year we are at a point of being "stuck." This particular patient has great difficulty with answering basic "what" and "where" questions that are beyond pointing to an item and saying "what is that?" or asking "where did the teddy bear go?" It was time to push the patient into answering more complex forms of "wh" questions such as "what does a dog like to chew on?" After going for months of asking these basic questions and no progress I backed up my expectations and turned these "wh" questions into a receptive language task. I did this by asking the question with three pictures available for the patient to choose the right answer. For example I would ask "where do you sleep?" the following pictures would include 1. a bed, 2. a cow, and 3. a chair. The patient would then choose the...

The new "hot topic" issue at my work for the past couple of months has been G-Codes. No not "guy code" (as my teasing boyfriend rhetorically asked). These are the new codes that will need to be utilized for successful billing and reimbursement for Medicare patients - specifically part B and a few other exceptions to the rules such as observation status patients in the hospital. My hospital was very fortunate to have the support of our managers in our continued education on this topic. Today many of our SLP's were able to participate in ASHA's Webinar regarding G-Codes. There was great information regarding G-Codes, NOMS, and FCM's. I would highly recommend looking into this Webinar if you have patients under Medicare part B! There was also a q&a part at the end which I think they will make available to read or to listen to I'd you decide to review the course now. Below is a link if any if you are interested! If anyone has questions I would ...

This evening I read Stuttering in School-Age Children: A Call for Treatment Research by Marilyn A. Nippold, PhD, and Editor. 2011 http://lshss.asha.org/cgi/content/full/42/2/99 This article is short, sweet, informative and basically hands out a research idea for dysfluency on a silver platter! In a nutshell this article discusses the need for research on therapy intervention for fluency for school-age children. I cannot agree more! Since starting in an outpatient facility I have had just a hand full of school-age fluency clients. I feel that there are so many different techniques to target fluency that it would be nice to have some solid evidence-based practice to present to parents and the students to collaboratively make a great plan of care. The author discusses the need and the benefit research would give this area of speech-language pathology. She further discusses two common methods in targeting fluency - the Lidcombe Program and the Gradual Increase in Length and Complex...

This past winter my outpatient facility was able to attain a pediatric flexible nasopharyngoscope through a grant! We wanted to test it out prior to a true patient coming for their evaluation. I volunteered to be the guinea pig! What is a videostroboscopy? It is an evaluation of the structure and the movement of vocal folds. This evaluation can be preformed with either a ridged scope or a flexible scope. The first video you will see is with me and the flexible scope. With this assessment we (speech-language pathologists, the physician and/or ENT, and the patient) are able to collaborate and create an affective treatment plan pending on the results found. What is the difference between videostroboscopy (video strobe) and a fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallow (FEES)? Video strobes are utilized to assess vocal fold functions and integrity. FEES are used to assess swallowing. With FEES you utilize a flexible scope through the nose and then are able to view the patient as they s...

This evening I read "Dysphagia Management: A Survey of School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists in Vermont." This was written by Tiffany L. Hutchins, Katherine W. Gerety, and Moira Mulligan. First, kudos to the gradate student that did this study! Now onto the review of the study! In a nutshell this study involved a survey being sent to ASHA certified SLP's in the state of Vermont. SLP's that were not currently working in a school were instructed to disregard the study (though if an SLP had history of working in a medical setting but were currently working in a school setting they could still complete the survey.) This study had a 20% return rate. I'm going to do a quick summary of the article here so if you are interested in a more in-depth look check out the article, I have the link below. http://lshss.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/194. Why are school SLPs seeing more students with feeding concerns? "Under the Education for All Handicapped Chi...

I have been trying to be more diligent at regularly reading journal articles.  I am very pleased to have come across this particular article! "Survey of K-3rd - Grade Teachers' Knowledge of Ear Infections and Willingness to Participate in Prevention Programs." Jeffry L. Danhauer, Carole E. Johnson, and Abby T. Caudle http://lshss.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/207 The title of the article is very self explanatory and leads to some interesting information in the realm of ear infections and well...prevention programs! The basic set up of the study is as follows: the researches created a questionnaire through www.surveymonkey.com that was emailed to 112 teachers that taught Kindergarten through 3rd grade in the Santa Barbra School District - 29 responded. The questions can be found within the study but generally they knowledge of recognizing hearing loss and/or ear infections, previous education on ear infections, prevention programs, and possible im...

http://www.articles.complexchild.com/jan2010/00180.html Today I worked in acute care and I came across a patient with a degenerative disease and in need of some form of AAC. Prior to seeing the patient the patient's RN told me that the patient was trying to communicate but could only get out moans. Sadly we don't have a great AAC communication board in our hospital (one of my many projects) so I went to the web! I was so so so very excited to find Amy Speech and Language Therapy, Inc. This Speech-Language Pathologist has made a few communication boards curtailed to the adult population. http://www.amyspeechlanguagetherapy.com/communication-boards.html I was able to print off some of these boards and take them right into my patient today. Now I went in for a dysphagia evaluation (and the patient was very lethargic) so we didn't have the time to try these boards out but the family very much appreciated the gesture.  I only wish that I would have scrolled down...

Say What? LOL! Decoding Text’s – Vocabulary of a Teenager! So many of our students (of various ages) text daily to their friends, family and peers. Yes I know that texting can be a nuisance but why not use this to our advantage? In this game you will find 3 different activities that will help enhance your students language skills while you are “speaking their language!” Your players will race around the board game – depending on the color they land on will determine the task they must complete before moving forward. Don’t worry if you are not familiar with all of the Texting Lingo, I have provided a cheat sheet that is alphabetized! Task 1 – Building Vocabulary and Decoding *In task one the student will have the chance to decode the text in acronym form! This activity is great for decoding skills and vocabulary.   50 cards are included in this deck! Task 2 – Problem Solving and Pragmatic Language *In this task your ...