Swallow Assessments involve the clinical evaluation of a person’s swallow function to determine what mealtime safety recommendations and diet & fluid consistencies they require to ensure their safety is maximised when eating and drinking.

Swallow assessments are conducted during a person’s mealtime and encompasses not only the swallow physiology but also the environmental and personal factors that may influence the person’s mealtime safety. Following the assessment, the speech pathologist develops what’s known as a Mealtime Plan. This document outlines the diet and fluid consistency recommended (See International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative website for more details) along with swallowing strategies, additional support, environmental modifications or specialised cutlery and crockery that might be required at mealtimes.

Our recommendations are fundamentally based on what’s safest for our clients but also acknowledge the importance of dignity of risk. We are committed to working with our clients, their families, support staff and medical/allied health teams to preserve independence while maximising safety.

Swallow assessments consist of:

• Detailed case history/data collection.

• In-person review of swallow function during a meal (preferably lunch or dinner).

• In-person feedback, education and recommendations immediately following the assessment.

• A detailed clinical report on the client’s swallow function (containing relevant swallowing case history, assessment findings, imagery from the assessment and reasoning for our recommendations).

• A mealtime plan that stipulates each recommendation separately with corresponding image to provide increased clarity.

• An electronic data tracking form that our clients, their families and/or staff can fill in at any time to provide online feedback to the speech pathologist with questions or concerns that our speech pathologist can follow-up ASAP.

• Follow-up education sessions with a client, their family and or support staff. This is often useful if the client has a large care team that will not be present for the clinical assessment.

From time-to-time further clinical evaluation of a person’s swallow function may be required via a Fibreoptic Endoscopic Examination of Swallowing (FEES) or a Videofluoroscopy Swallowing Study (VFSS). If these assessments are indicated following your review, your speech pathologist will talk to you about these assessments, explain what’s involved and organise this with you, if it’s something you’d like to pursue.