While I could pop 20 in my mouth, chew a few times, and let my sensory nerves run wild with these lil treats, I've never really thought about how the sweet-sour taste-sensation actually impacts how my body manages what I just placed in my mouth...🤔🤔. Why do I enjoy it? How do my tongue and body react to it and why? What makes us make that funny sour face? I don't know if it's because I'm biased since I'm hooked on these lil guys or the fact that I am always fascinated when it comes to sensory dysphagia, either way, this article definitely hit MY sweet spot!😊

While I chugged along reading this article, I found myself with an even greater awareness of the impact our field can have. As clinicians, we're naturally always looking for "the next best thing," and guess what? So are our patients! Sometimes we get that A+ 🏆prize-winning intervention or result, and other times we come home with a dud and disappointed mindset😞. BUT we owe it to ourselves and our patients to continue to be open to new approaches while continuing to have discussions with our patients, colleagues, and medical co-workers.❤️

To start the new year off on the right foot, let's start by dispelling some age-old ideas, k? I've done it before. Yes, I'm guilty, I was once a /k/ sound abuser user for swallowing🙋‍♀️. That was hard to admit, but they say the first step is acceptance.. I've been on the search for why this was ever taught to me as a grad student in the first place, and I had finally found a source from a reputable SLP idol (hint: name rhymes with boil😉😂). Aside from the fact that my name happens to starts with K (😯😮🤯), this was the origin story I've been eagerly waiting for.

Because medical status in the acute and critical care environments can change in the blink of an eye for multiple reasons, our evaluations, treatment plans, and recommendations often metamorphosize simultaneously as well. A lot of the times in acute/critical care, we may not be able to implement many strategies, exercises, techniques, or recommendations due to complex reasons. So, what do we do with critical patients? ⚠️⚠️WARNING:⚠️⚠️ This article is not for the faint of mind. I know I definitely had a hard time grappling with some of what I read, but peeling these layers back of what we don’t know keeps pushing us forward as professionals. Please read at your own risk of uncovering reflective questioning, biases, and challenges to any previous notions that “because we are medical professional” (me included), our presence is the end-all-be-all . . 😳🤔

Boy oh boy. If you've been keeping up with latest The Leader lowdown, you might've had many thoughts running rampant in your mind when reading a particular article. Among these very intense thoughts, one might've been, "Where do I even start?!?!" (you may choose your own emoji here😉). Instead of a big deep dive into one article analyzing and critically thinking about a single study, we already know what we're after so, I felt surface-level crumbs of info would suffice for now to help lead others to the big picture.

In the spirit of the holidays, there's a lot to be thankful for this year. This article made me incredibly grateful for all the clear, specific, and comprehensive information the authors provided throughout this 🤩MUST-READ🤩 article on the COPD population. Whether you're a #newbie figuring out what to do, or a #seasonedSLP curious of why you're seeing what you're seeing, from the spot-on background on COPD, to the detailed descriptions and colorfully-created graphs that give you a clear picture of what's it all about, this article will make you appreciate what you know, what you don't, and everything you'll learn after reading!🥰

I’d be rich if I had a nickel for every time I assessed (aka observe and internally analyzed) a patient chewing. I’d be even more rich for all the times I did this without actually knowing what was going on, essentially guessing how long it took to chew and swallow, how many times they had to chew, if they were able to move the solid bolus around cohesively, if they were taking a long time to enjoy the food or because of some type of impairment… That's just what the heroic Huckabee planned with this article and validated assessment tool. You know when you're frantically searching for the one shirt or shoe in your closet, only to find something else you completely forgot about? That's how I happened to come back to this approach I'd been meaning to look into (for #IDK how many months🤦‍♀️😬).

I for one have always been a sucker for “classics." Classic cars, classic fashion staples, classic movies on a rainy night. The reason why I’m drawn to classic things is because they tend to withstand the test of what we find the enemy these days---TIME. So I found it comforting in Sackett’s article to find that we, as speech-language pathologists, are not alone in the classic fight to keep up with and be informed of research literature. “This article review has been prepared for those clinicians who are behind in their clinical reading.”

Have you ever wished there were breadcrumbs along the way to know if you're on the right path?? Or ever have an idea or question for what might or might not be appropriate for your patient, but just not that confident when turning your eyes to the research evidence?? Well, after months and months of work updating and fine-tuning its resources, ASHA has finally brought you something that's much easier to find, navigate, and manage in order to help you help your patients! This post was written by Rebecca Bowen, a speech-language pathologist clinician and Clinical Research Associate at ASHA’s National Center for Evidence-Based Practice in Communication Disorders. Her main role is to curate the Evidence Maps, create resources, and help practicing clinicians implement EBP. Here she gives you an exclusive, inside look at what ASHA's National Center for Evidence-Based Practice is now offering for us busy SLPs. Enjoy!😃

For the SLPs who have trach-on-the-brain or those less familiar but wanting to know more, this article attempts to shed a new light on what we knew, what we think we know, and what we now know about managing the "trachoestomy population" when it comes to swallowing function, aspiration, and inflated cuff.