Speech in Focus provides eating, drinking, and swallowing (dysphagia) assessments for those living at home or in an aged care facility. Assessments are conducted in English, Arabic, and Greek.
Like breathing, swallowing is a reflex and essential to everyday life. We swallow food, liquids, medicine and saliva.
Humans swallow at least 900 times a day: around three times an hour during sleep, once per minute while awake and even more often during meals.
Signs of eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties
- Food or medications sticking in the mouth, throat or chest
- Coughing or choking
- Having undigested food or fluid coming out of the nose or mouth
- Spitting undigested food
- Loose or ill fitting dentures
- Poor mouth hygiene
- Tongue, facial, lip weakness
- A wet-sounding voice, or gurgled breathing after swallowing
- Increased respiration rate
- Loss of interest in meals
- Family concerns
Every person deserves to have a quality of life. Speech in Focus assesses the person’s eating and drinking skills which includes chewing and swallowing. We base all decisions on strong scientific knowledge as well as being compassionate towards the person’s needs.