Pediatric Swallowing Treament Coverage: Issues and Advocacy

The October ASHA LEADER had a nice article by Janet McCarty and Amy Hasselkus on dysphagia reimbursement.
Notable information:

• More information on the effects of oral-motor exercises on dysphagia in pediatrics will be available in Dec.
• A remind of documents on ASHA's website such as treatment efficacy and preferred practice patterns.
• In reference to denied reimbursement, "the inability to manage age-appropriate food textures is defined as oral stage dysphagia (ICD-9 code 787.21)"
• Suggestion to document "the oral-motor issues and the nutrient deficiencies  of the child's food, which put the child at risk for malnutrition and related growth and developmental problems."

If you are working with pediatric feeding issues I recommend reading the article and following up on the recommended links.

KSHA weekend

I have been inspired! After spending the weekend at the KSHA convention, I decided to take a leap from personal blogging to a blog related to speech pathology. I don't know if this will be a success, but it's worth trying. I personally would love a place I could go to search for basic information that I need in my job. I also would love an outlet that would allow me to ask questions of other SLPs in my community, so that is what I want to offer here. I will encourage my students to peruse the blog to assist them in session planning, so there will be some beginning information posted, but sometimes we all need some reminders. I guess this is the end of post #1! Now it is time to go to bed so I can attend the Saturday portion of KSHA!!