Speak Out April 2019

In the lead up to Swallowing Awareness Day 2019, the MSWA Speech Pathology Department (formerly known as The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Western Australia) was busy in the kitchen, road testing various recipes for texture-modified bread and sandwiches. We all know that bread, for many people living with dysphagia, is a particularly challenging food to chew and swallow, and one that is associated with increased risk of choking. While texture-modified recipes for bread do exist, to date they’ve never been served on the menu at any MSWA kitchens, mostly because of fear they will be too difficult and take too long to prepare, and because they will be unappealing or unappetising to residents and visitors. MSWA Speech Pathologist Lucy Strom was keen to explore things further, to see if she could alleviate some of these fears and possible misconceptions. So, she spent a day in the kitchen and experimented with a range of different texture-modified bread recipes including gelled, smooth-pureed and minced and moist bread, and even a toasted sandwich version of the latter. The MSWA Speech Pathology team and final year speech pathology students from Edith Cowan University then compared each sandwich in terms of ease and length of preparation in the kitchen, appearance, taste, texture (from an IDDSI perspective) and overall ‘sandwichiness’. While no one recipe was perfect, the team was pleasantly surprised with how MSWA Speech Pathologist Lucy Strom preparing her texture- modified sandwich creations. Recipe road testing

On Wednesday 13 March, speech pathology students at Macquarie University raised awareness about swallowing disorders and in particular, the role of speech pathologists in the assessment and treatment of dysphagia. We held a stall where we encouraged students from all disciplines to try some thickened juices and soft drinks, and provided education why individuals with dysphagia might be prescribed a modified texture diet. By Amanda Godbee and Stella Tamvakeras Raising awareness

well each recipe stood up, particularly in terms of taste! The melted cheese toastie made with wholemeal bread was a big hit! Moving forward the speech pathology team at MSWA now plans to meet

with its dietitian colleagues to discuss the nutritional and calorific content of each recipe, given that it took almost six slices of regular white bread to produce just one slice of minced and moist bread.

MacquarieUniversity students ran a stall to raise awareness about swallowing disorders.

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April 2019 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

Speak Out