Assessment of Dysphagia in Adults: Resources and Protocols in English and Spanish

About The Authors

Maria H. Provencio-Arambula, MA, CCC-SLP, graduated from California State University, Fresno (CSU Fresno) with a master’s degree in speech-language pathology. She was the recipient of the CSU Fresno Dean’s medal. During her studies at CSU Fresno, Maria was a Ronald E. McNair Graduate Equity Fellow. In addition, she completed a Master’s degree project on assessment and treatment of dysphagia and helped complete a collaborative study involving CSU Fresno and Children’s Hospital, Central California, on treating stuttering in preschool children. She also has served as the California State Speech Hearing Association District 5 student representative. She is currently employed at Children’s Hospital Central California, a non-profit pediatric medical facility that provides services to children in Central California. She has experience in pediatric acute hospital inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation for speech, language, and dysphagia. She is currently a team member on the feeding team and conducts Modified Barium Videofluoroscopic studies. She also works for L & J Telesmanic Rehab Systems, Inc., with experience in adult acute hospital inpatient rehabilitation for speech, language, and dysphagia. She has co-developed the Teaching Articulation and Language to Kids (T.A.L.K) program at Children’s Hospital, Central California. She has extensive experience in working with diverse multi-cultural adult and pediatric populations. She serves as a mentor and supervisor for clinical fellowship year candidates at Children’s Hospital, Central California. She is an advocate for speech-language pathologists to be the preferred providers for dysphagia assessment and treatment in the pediatric and adult populations.

Dora Provencio, MA, CCC-SLP, graduated from California State University, Fresno (CSU Fresno) with a master’s degree in Speech-Language pathology. She currently is an administrative assistant and rehab director for L & J Telesmanic Rehab Systems, Inc., a private practice which has been providing services in the Central California area for over 15 years. In her current position, Dora has trained many speech-language pathologists in assessment and treatment of dysphagia in a variety of patients and regularly supervises services offered to patients with dysphagia. She has extensive experience in varied practice settings, including acute hospital inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation centers, home health, and long-term care facilities. She developed the modified barium videofluoroscopic swallow dysphagia team and procedure at Sierra Kings District Hospital, Reedley, CA, and at Selma Community Hospital, Selma, CA. She is a bilingual speech-language pathologist who is fluent in reading, writing and speaking Spanish. She is co-author of the Spanish Test for Assessing Morphological Production. She regularly guest lectures on dysphagia and multicultural assessment and treatment of speech and language disorders at California State University (CSU Fresno) program in Communicative Disorders She has also taught graduate seminars at CSU Fresno. She has presented seminars and short courses at California State Speech-Language-Hearing Association District 5 Conferences. She is a founding board member and current president of the CSU Fresno Communicative Disorders Alumni Chapter.

M. N. Hegde, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Communication Sciences and Disorders at California State University-Fresno. A specialist in fluency disorders, language disorders, research methods, and treatment procedures in communication disorders, Dr. Hegde is world renown as a researcher, presenter, contributor of original articles to leading national and international journals, and critically acclaimed author of more than two dozen highly regarded books in speech-language pathology. He has served on the editorial boards of several scientific and professional journals, has been a guest editor of international journals, and continues to serve as an editorial consultant to the Journal of Fluency Disorders.