Behavioral management for oropharyngeal dysphagia

Abstract

Behavioral management of oropharyngeal swallowing disorders includes the introduction of compensatory strategies and direct therapy techniques. Compensatory strategies include postural changes, sensory enhancements, changing feeding strategies, diet changes and intraoral prosthetics. Therapy procedures include exercise programs and swallowing maneuvers. This article describes the various behavioral therapy procedures and presents their physiologic rationales and advantages and disadvantages and suggests ways to measure their effectiveness.