Swallowing difficulties: awareness and information

Yesterday (11 May) was the first Swallowing Awareness Day organised by Speech Pathology Australia.

Swallowing difficulties are common for people with intellectual disability, including those with Down syndrome of all ages. Assoc Prof Bronwyn Helmsley from the University of NSW has written about swallowing difficulties for the NSW Council for Intellectual Disability:

• It's a lot to swallow! Swallowing Difficulties
• Swallowing - 5 Facts for People with Intellectual Disability
• Swallowing Difficulty and People with Intellectual Disability

You can also listen to the articles from the link on the page.

Speech pathologists are one of the main health professionals working with people who have swallowing difficulties.

Swallowing difficulties are also called “dysphagia” (pronounced dis-fay-gia) as this means ‘disorder of swallowing’.

You can find out more about the awareness day here