Unit 1 - Dysphagia

1.2.3 Professionals involved

Dysphagia Team

Individuals with dysphagia (feeding and swallowing disorders) may have a range of medical issues that require evaluation and treatment in a variety of settings (e.g., school, home, hospital, skilled nursing facility).

Dysphagia's causes and consequences cut across traditional professional boundaries and may necessitate the collaboration of many medical or therapeutic specialists. Feeding and swallowing involve the mouth, throat, upper airway, larynx, trachea, esophagus, and stomach.

A multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary team of specialists is best suited to manage people with complicated challenges. To obtain the greatest outcome, these specialists collaborate with one another as well as the patient/student and family.


The Coordinator

  • A coordinator, who is typically a Speech-Language Pathologist, leads the dysphagia team.

  • Identifies core team members and support services; facilitates team communication; maintains team focus, communication, and engagement;

  • Documents team activities; and using appropriate consultation procedures with other team members and other services



Dysphagia team


  • Dentist /Dental Hygienist: Evaluates and treats gingival and dental dysfunction and may specialize in prosthetics to improve swallowing. Advice on oral hygiene.

  • Neonatologist: Identifies infants with swallowing difficulties, refers them for evaluation, orders appropriate therapies, and monitors their progress.

  • Gastroenterologist: Determines any difficulties with the GI tract; performs diagnostic tests related to the esophageal segment of swallowing; and places feeding tubes if the patient/student needs an alternative to oral feeding.

  • Neurologist: Diagnoses and treats neurological causes of swallowing problems.

  • Nursing: Works with the patient/student and caregivers in implementing and maintaining safe swallowing techniques and compensatory or facilitation strategies during meals and when taking medications.

  • Nutritionist/Dietician: Evaluates nutritional needs; follows therapy recommendations regarding consistencies of liquids and solid foods, determines needs for special diets; and ensures adequate nutrition when using alternative means of nutrition.

  • Occupational therapist: Evaluates and treats sensory and motor impairments and assesses prosthetic needs related to self-feeding and swallowing.

  • Otolaryngologist: Diagnoses and treats oral, pharyngeal, laryngeal and tracheal pathologies that may cause or contribute to swallowing problems; cooperates with speech-language pathologists in performing endoscopic evaluations of swallowing.

  • Pediatrician: Identifies children with swallowing challenges, provides appropriate referrals, and integrates the dysphagia team's recommendations with the child's general health and well-being.

  • Psychologist/ Psychiatrist: Evaluates and treats patient/students and their families in adjusting to dysphagia disability, in coping with ramifications of swallowing disorders, and in managing associated stresses.

  • Physical Therapist: Evaluates and treats body positioning, sensory and motor movements necessary for safe and efficient swallowing, recommends appropriate seating equipment needed during feeding.

  • Social Worker: Assists and counsels patient/student and families in adjustment to disability, access to the least restrictive residential and treatment environments, and third-party payment issues.

  • Pulmonologist: Evaluates and resolves respiratory issues in dysphagia patients/students; controls chronic pulmonary diseases and ventilator-dependent patients/students.

  • Radiation Oncologist: Implements radiation treatment regimens to treat patients/students with dysphagia caused by malignancies of the mouth, throat, and/or esophagus.

  • Radiologist: Evaluates swallowing problems through radiologic studies, primarily with Speech-Language Pathologists during videofluorographic swallow studies (VFSS.)

  • Patient / Student: Provides information to other team members about his/her disorder; demonstrates understanding of the causes and treatment of the dysphagia disorder; follows dietary, compensatory and facilitative techniques to restore swallowing function and maintain adequate nutrition and hydration.

  • Family Member / Caregiver: Provides information to other team members about the patient/student’s signs and symptoms of the disorder; demonstrates understanding and implements the recommended management techniques.

  • Speech-Language Pathologist: Evaluates and treats patients/students with swallowing problems, including direct modifications of physiologic responses and indirect approaches such as diet modification.