Hello everyone, has anyone done or have their children done a swallow test? My daughter is 10 years old, and has recently been keeping food in her mouth and cheeks after she eats. She was born with Spastic Hemiplegia on her right side of her body. She struggles with speech, comprehension, and reading. Her CP is moderate. Well, I just met with her Speech Therapist on Friday, and she wants to diagnose my daughter with Apraxia. She is always getting an upper respiratory infection once a week each month. Any advice or info would be appreciated.
If she's getting respiratory infections so frequently she might be aspirating some of her food. For a swallow test they give her a thick concoction, usually with charcoal in it so it will show up in the imaging. It's basically a live x-ray so they can see exactly how the food is being pushed down, where it goes, and check the peristalsis (automatic coordination of muscles used in swallowing) to see if there're any abnormalities. The stuff tastes awful (they made us drink it in nursing school so we'd know what it's like), just to warn you. Hope that information helps. Hugs.
Thank you for the response. I am just nervous for her, and hoping we can figure this out, and help avoid further respiratory infections or at least less of them.
@lisakg83 I hope so too. Keep us posted.