Supporting Families of Children With Disorders of Consciousness

From patient decision-making to diet modification to interdisciplinary collaboration, guests share their experience and the trends they’re seeing shape and change dysphagia treatment.Featuring three SLPs from ASHA’s Online Conference, “Dysphagia Management: Strengthening Skills, Overcoming Obstacles,” this panel discussion addresses shifting practices related to SLPs’ role in making dietary recommendations.What do these changes mean for your service delivery? And most importantly, how do you communicate these changes to your patients and interdisciplinary collaborators?Learn More:ASHA Online Conference: Dysphagia Management: Strengthening Skills, Overcoming ObstaclesASHA Voices: Avoiding Confusion in Pediatric Feeding and SwallowingASHA Voices: SLPs Make the Case for a Fearless Approach to Dysphagia TreatmentASHA Voices: The Critical but Unseen Social Determinants of Health

Patients receiving burn care have dynamic and complex needs, and SLPs can provide key communication and swallowing support during the recovery process.Speech-language pathologist Tiffany Mohr of Orlando Regional Medical Center joins the podcast to discuss SLPs' growing role in burn care and improved patient outcomes.Mohr is one of the first two SLPs to join the American Burn Association’s Rehabilitation Committee. She shares what she’s learned over nearly a decade of treating patients with burns.Learn More:ASHA Voices: The Role of Two SLPs Following a Unique Face-Transplant SurgeryASHA Voices: Dysphagia, Communication, and the Challenges of Life in the ICUASHA Voices: Creating ‘Ramps’ to Communication Access in Health CareTranscript

What information do we receive from the sound around us? Hear thoughts from Matt Goupell (University of Maryland) and Brian Monson (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), who join the podcast to discuss their research, along with findings on speech in noisy environments and spatial awareness.Goupell and Monson are presenting at the 2025 ASHA Research Symposium on Hearing at the ASHA Convention. As part of ASHA Voices’ annual coverage of that symposium, they join the podcast to discuss their presentations and research.First, Monson shares what we can learn from extended high frequencies—those frequencies higher than 8,000 Hz. He shares thoughts on why these quieter frequencies may be the first to go. Then, Goupell tells us what bilateral cochlear implants are doing well, and how he hopes to see them improve in the future.Learn More:Research Symposium on HearingASHA Voices: A Promising Outlook for Gene Therapy and Hearing LossASHA Voices: The Community Link to Hearing Care AccessTranscript

Guests on this podcast episode characterize work with pediatric disorders of consciousness as a "marathon, not a sprint."Through long stretches of rehabilitation, speech-language pathologists work closely with these young patients’ families, who may be in a process of grieving.Two SLPs from a children’s hospital in Texas discuss counseling families in this second of two episodes exploring disorders of consciousness. They tell us about collaborating with families during assessment and treatment, and how they work with these families in emotionally difficult moments.Learn More:ASHA Voices: Looking for Subtleties While Treating Disorders of ConsciousnessASHA Voices: The Difference Patient Counseling MakesASHA Practice Portal: Pediatric Traumatic Brain InjuryTranscript

Disorders of consciousness, often associated with brain injuries, vary in severity and can include patients who are unresponsive or experiencing confusion. What comes next for these patients and their families and care partners can be a long, emotionally difficult journey through uncertainty. SLP Emily Silverberg of Spaulding Rehabilitation shares her insights from treating patients all along the disorders of consciousness spectrum. She explains how SLPs look for subtle signs of responsiveness. And she shares one unusual story that demonstrates the role families and care partners can play in this treatment.Learn More:ASHA Evidence Map: Disorders of ConsciousnessASHA Voices: Isolation, Frustration, and What Follows a Brain InjuryHow TBI Presents Differently in Children Under Age 4Transcript

Two SLPs share how they arrived where they are today and what they learned along the way.First, Kelly Peña (Rutgers University/former president of ASHA’s Hispanic Caucus) shares a story of the people who brought her into the profession and what she’s passing on to the next generation of multilingual practitioners.Later in the episode, hear from Anusha Sundarrajan (San Francisco State University/president of the South Asian Caucus of ASHA). When her colleague suggested Anusha open a gender-affirming voice clinic, it sparked a change that’s been a part of Anusha’s career for more than half a decade.Learn More:ASHA Voices: Career Origin Stories – Multilingual Service ProvidersASHA Voices: What Role Can Supervisors Play in Addressing Microaggressions?ASHA Voices: Three SLPs Step Off the Beaten Career Path into New Ventures

In our second episode recognizing Disability Pride Month and the 35th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Eileen Nordmeyer shares a personal story about the influence of disability on her career.Nordmeyer has worked in many different settings and practiced as a speech-language pathologist for more than 30 years. When her son was born with a genetic disorder, it changed the way she viewed service delivery. She shares her insights.Learn More:ASHA Voices: Recognizing ADA at 35 With Personal Stories of Disability AdvocacySpeech-Language Pathology in Schools: Medical, Educational, or Both?Establishing Rapport With Clients … With a DisabilityTranscript

In recognition of Disability Pride Month and the 35th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, two CSD professionals share personal stories of disability advocacy.Angela Evenich—who has previously written about the influence of cerebral palsy on her career as a speech-language pathologist—discusses the people and ideas that have changed her perspective on disability.Then, audiologist Jasmine Simmons tells us about her book series on Usher syndrome. Simmons herself has Usher syndrome. And like Simmons, the protagonist of her first book, “Extraordinary Jordyn and Her Bionic Ears,” has a cochlear implant.Learn More:ASHA Voices: Creating ‘Ramps’ to Communication Access in Health CareImagine True Inclusion: Defining the Social Model of DisabilityAn SLP Starts a Nonprofit to Provide Disability Support InternationallyFrom My Perspective/Opinion: SLP Views Ableism and Accessibility, Not Her Cerebral Palsy, as Real Career BarriersTranscript

SLPs Meg Lico and Kaitlin Hanley from NYU Langone Health share their story of working with Aaron James, the recipient of what’s being called as the first ever full-eye and partial-face transplant. They describe how they worked with James to reach his goals, such as eating solid foods with his family.Central to the story is their collaboration and the interdepartmental communication that made success possible. The SLPs provide details about approaching this unique case, as well as their victories, memorable moments, and the emotions they had along the way.At the end of the conversation, hear from James and his wife Meagan.(This conversation was originally published in February 2024.)Learn More:Swallowing Function After Pioneering Partial Face and Whole Eye Transplant: Clinical InsightsFacing the Unknown: An SLP treated a patient before and after his facial transplant surgery.Changes in Articulatory Control Pre– and Post–Facial Transplant: A Case ReportThe Effects of Lip-Closure Exercise on Lip Strength and Function Following Full Facial Transplantation: A Case ReportTranscript

When people with cancer are treated with ototoxic drugs and interventions, they may experience hearing loss and tinnitus. The audiologist's role in addressing the needs of cancer patients can be critical to fostering awareness and preventing hearing loss. On this podcast, a panel of three audiologists discuss the services they deliver, the interprofessional collaboration at the heart of their care, and what counseling can offer at a time of uncertainty for a patient. Plus, one of our guests shares a personal story of cancer survival and hearing loss. Learn more:ASHA Voices: Audiologists Take on Ototoxicity  A Communication Lifeline for Hospitalized ChildrenASHA Voices: What to Know About Opioids and Hearing LossWhat's New in Ototoxicity Management?Transcript