Advances in Communication and Swallowing

Webinars

Spring 2025 Online Lecture: Dr. Ashli O’Rourke (M.S., M.D.) is Professor and Director of Laryngology at the Evelyn Trammell Institute for Voice and Swallowing at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. Cervical degenerative disc disease is surprisingly common with up to 60% of individuals over the age of 40 exhibiting some signs of wear and tear on their spine. The cervical spine can impact laryngeal and swallowing function due to its proximity to the upper aerodigestive tract, so dysphagia clinicians need to be aware of changes in this vital structure. In this webinar, Dr. O’Rourke explains normal cervical spinal anatomy and the causes of spine degeneration. Laryngoscopic and videofluorscopic swallow studies are used to examine how cervical spine disease may impact laryngeal and swallowing function. [This webinar was not recorded].

Autumn 2024 Online Lecture: Dr. Helen Kelly (University College Cork) presents this webinar about raising aphasia awareness, the creation of an online Dysphagia Café, and the co-creation of a website to promote the café. The website creation was a collaboration between Dr. Kelly, Mr Dan Clancy (website creator) and a number of individuals living with aphasia. Each of these panelists join Dr. Kelly to discuss the website creation and the value of aphasia cafés for those living with communication impairments. Watch the recording on YouTube.

Spring 2024 Online Lecture: Maria Gibbons is a Clinical Specialist Speech and Language Therapist working for the Health Service Executive. In this online lecture, she discusses her research into Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), which won the Advances in Communication and Swallowing 2023 award for best paper based on postgraduate research. Maria's research involved interviewing teachers and children with DLD about their understanding and awareness of the condition, as well as their identified needs. She speaks about how her findings are relevant to health promotion as it relates to DLD in schools. Watch the recording via the YouTube channel here.

Autumn 2023 Online Lecture: Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR) is a condition characterised by the backflow of stomach contents into the upper aerodigestive tract. Dr Ciarán Kenny (Trinity College Dublin) speaks in this webinar about the clinical characteristics of this condition. He explores how reflux can negatively affect both voice and swallowing, as well as its interactions with other related conditions like chronic cough and inducible laryngeal obstruction. He concludes his webinar with practical recommendations for assessment and management, which clinicians can introduce into their practice. Watch the recording on YouTube.

Midsummer 2023 Online Lecture: Across the globe, speech and language therapists (SLTs) have long worked with clients and their families where multilingualism is a fact of life, a necessity rather than a choice. In this online lecture hosted by Advances in Communication and Swallowing, Dr. Mary-Pat O Malley (University of Galway) addresses the myths and misunderstandings about multilingual children, drawing both on the research literature and her experiences with developing ways to more reliably assess speech and language in multilingual children. Watch the recording via the IOS Press YouTube channel here.

Autumn 2022 Online Lecture: Advances in Communication & Swallowing (ACS) hosted its first autumn online lecture event on October 12, 2022. Dr. Nicole McGill and Prof. Sharynne McLeod (Charles Sturt University, Australia) talked about waiting list management, in reference to their paper “Waiting list management: Professionals’ perspectives and innovations”, recently published in ACS. Watch the recording on YouTube and grab your handout here.

Spring 2022 Online Lecture: Advances in Communication & Swallowing (ACS) hosted its first spring online lecture event for all professionals with an interest in communication/swallowing on April 27, 2022. It was given by Dr. Shaun O' Keeffe, Consultant Geriatrician (National University of Ireland, Galway), along with his research team, and was based on their recently published and the top-viewed ACS paper “Aspiration, risk, and risk feeding: A critique of the Royal College of Physicians' guidance on care of people with eating and drinking difficulties.” Watch the recording via the IOS Press YouTube channel here.