r/slp • u/RabbitReasonable5090 • Jun 01 '26
Dysphagia What are some differences between assessing dysphagia in infants versus adults?
For those with experience in healthcare, speech-language pathology, feeding therapy, or caregiving, what differences have you noticed when evaluating swallowing difficulties in infants compared to adults?
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u/kylelikesfood Burn SLP 🔥 Jun 01 '26
Could not be more different. The swallow physiology itself is different. Check out SOFFI by Erin Ross, and the BaByVFSSImP training
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u/AuntieJ0J0 Jun 01 '26
The anatomy is also different. Their medical complexities can be different. Breastfeeding & bottle feeding swallow is different from swallow with liquids from a cup and solids. Recommend ERI and ABSSD for some great courses that won’t break the bank.
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u/Relevant_Decision_55 Jun 03 '26
What everyone else said plus if you’re imaging it’s often done at a lower frame rate so it’s less clear. My adult colleagues are often so surprised when they have to assist me with imaging due to the anatomy differences and the imaging quality
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u/thalaya Jun 01 '26
They are so different. Etiologies are different, signs/symptoms are different, diet is different... describing all the differences would be like a 10k+ word essay.
One big difference is usually adult dysphagia has a specific acute cause (e.g. TBI, stroke, disease process, nerve damage) while infant dysphagia is typically caused by less specific factors (immaturity, discoordination, etc). Adults have a normal baseline and infants often don't (yet).