Additional information:
Texas Children’s Hospital-Medical Center location Speech Pathology Division (Speech, Language & Learning) provides a variety of feeding and swallowing services for children in the Houston area and beyond. Services include feeding-swallowing therapy for children with medically-complex histories with a variety of diagnoses including not limited to: gastrointestinal disorders, cerebral vascular accidents, brainstem tumors, oral reconstruction/cranio-facial anomalies, congenital heart anomalies, complex airway disorders, and patients with tracheostomy/ventilator-dependency. We also provide feeding and swallowing services to infants discharged from the NICU. We provide treatment to patients utilizing a variety of approaches incorporating medical-oral/motor-behavioral strategies for patients with feeding delays/disorders and gastrostomy-tube dependency. For our patients with oral-pharyngeal dysphagia, we implement swallow rehabilitation strategies with evidence-based techniques combining both strengthening and skills training as appropriate. We have developed one of the only Pediatric Swallow Rehabilitation Lab with state of the art biofeedback, use of the Iowa Oral Pressure Instrument (IOPI) and expiratory muscle strength training (EMST). Our speech pathologists work collaboratively with gastroenterologists, otolaryngologists, pulmonologists, plastic surgeons, and rehabilitation physicians. We participate in multidisciplinary specialty clinics including Aerodigestive Team, Airway Clinic, Craniofacial Clinic, Cleft Palate Clinic, and have teamed with otolaryngology to establish a Pediatric Swallowing Disorders Clinic. Additionally, we have over extensive experience performing modified barium swallows/videofluoroscopic swallow evaluations and also perform Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) exams on site.