Aging produces predictable and specific changes to the human respiratory and digestive systems and predisposes older people to more severe effects of—and more protracted limitations secondary to—diseases and surgical procedures. Presenter James Coyle provides much-needed, clinically translatable information about aging-related respiratory and digestive system changes and how they affect swallowing diagnosis and treatment. The session also reviews the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (sepsis) as a model of an atypical dysphagia-producing illness.

This course is a recorded session from the 2017 online conference “Dysphagia in Older Adults.”

Learning Outcomes
You will be able to:

• describe three changes in pulmonary function that naturally occur in normal aging and apply them to dysphagia assessment observations of older patients
• describe three changes in digestive system function that naturally occur in normal aging and apply them to dysphagia assessment observations of older patients
• identify the predicted effects of sepsis in observations of patient performance after recovery, and use this information to make better predictions during dysphagia assessment of older patients

What is Included?

You'll get online access to all the course content, including the full video, handouts, and references so you can access it from anywhere!

Assessment Type

Self-assessment—Think about what you learned and report on the Completion Form how you will use your new knowledge.

Related Courses
View all courses from the “Dysphagia in Older Adults” online conference, available through the ASHA Learning Pass subscription or as an a la carte purchase.