Specific information regarding the Communication Sciences and Disorders' Acute Care Speech Language Pathology practicum led by Carley Evans MS CCC SLP. Carley is a medical speech pathologist at the Evelyn Trammell Institute for Voice and Swallowing of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. If you are new to this practicum, start with the oldest post listed in Archive.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Change in November Schedule

November:

Still no clinical on Monday, November 3rd.
Now no clinical on Monday, November 10th. I will be here on the 12th for your presentation.

Everything else is the same.

Thanks.

November Practicum Schedule

November schedule:

Monday, November 3rd: No clinical
Wednesday, November 12th: No clinical
Thursday, November 20th: No clinical

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Digit Span Forward, Digit Repetition in Testing

To keep a slow, steady pace during digit span forward or digit repetition task, try this:

Say 5 (then say 5 silently to yourself), say 7 (then say 7 to yourself), say 3 (then say 3 to yourself), say 9 (then say 9 to yourself)...

This will keep you on a steady, slow pace. This helps to prevent chunking by the person you are testing.

If you need to, tape record yourself to check accuracy.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Student Presentation Guidelines: Adult Clinical Rotations

Adult Clinical Rotations

Student Presentation Guidelines

Description: Students will be required to present a clinical topic to the adult speech pathologists. Oral and written components are required.

Topics: Teach us something new! Keep in mind, the point of the presentation is to enhance the staff’s knowledge. Maybe a disorder you had an experience with during your rotation (something we could learn more about); patient and/or family information packets; or a treatment strategy. If you decide to present a treatment strategy, please include the following information: treatment efficacy, cost efficiency, availability, reliability, etc.

If you have difficulty choosing a topic, ask your supervisor for suggestions.

Written requirement: Please prepare a summarized handout for clinicians (1-2 pages) or a packet for patients/families. Include references. Do not print something directly from a website. You should organize this information on your own. If creating a Pt/family packet, provide helpful web sites, phone numbers, support groups, etc.

Oral requirement: You will be given less than 10 minutes including a brief question-answer period. This is not a great deal of time, so plan accordingly.

Date: Presentations will be Wednesday, Nov 12th from 8-9:00 am.

Location: 202 Basic Science Building (rounds location)

Friday, October 17, 2008

No Clinic Monday

No clinical practicum on Monday, October 20th.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Straw Drinking

James L. Coyle, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, BRS-S
(Communication Science and Disorders
University of Pittsburgh) writes:

Stephanie Daniels and her colleagues published an interesting article on straw drinking in normals a few years back that describes three distinct patterns of straw-drinking. I don’t know if straw drinking in patients has been investigated and I am pretty sure that what goes on in the oral cavity has received little attention. This brings up an interesting observation (my own so take it for what it’s worth, and it is something that would make a great study).

Ask yourself this question and answer it: “how do humans establish the intraoral pressure necessary to draw liquid into the mouth through a straw?” before reading on.

Most people that I have asked (mostly students, nursing personnel and other SLP’s), when asked reply that it is through inhalation. In fact, to do so requires tight closure of the linguapalatal valve (tongue base to soft palate through palatoglossus muscles) together with retraction and depression of the anterior tongue and mandible depression (all together), which increases oral cavity volume and thereby decreases intraoral pressure, drawing in the liquid. Try it and attend to what your “parts” are doing.

Arguably, in some cases in which good linguapalatal closure is apparent (evidence: clinical assessment of oral facial sensorimotor function and speech production) and patient has a patent nasal cavity and nasopharynx for ventilation, the use of a straw might be (opinion here – no hard evidence to support) considered beneficial to some individuals who exhibit posterior oral containment impairments with liquids by forcing linguapalatal contact during the oral preparatory and early oral transit stages. I have used this logic successfully in some cases.

If linguapalatal closure is not adequate or evident then indeed inhalation will be used and the bolus directed to the airway.


Daniels, S. K., Corey, D. M., Hadskey, L. D., Legendre, C., Priestly, D. H., Rosenbek, J. C. et al. (2004). Mechanism of sequential swallowing during straw drinking in healthy young and older adults. Journal of Speech Language & Hearing Research, 47, 33-45.

Daniels, S.K. & Foundas, A. L. (2001). Swallowing physiology of sequential straw drinking. Dysphagia, 16, 176-182.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

What is Patent Foramen Ovale?

What is PFO and is it related to a genetic syndrome? What effects does it have on speech and swallowing, if any?

What is Horner's Syndrome?

What is Endocarditis?

Look up endocarditis. Give us the lowdown, and how it may be related to speech pathology (if it is).