What to Expect at the Complex Dysphagia Clinic

Before your visit

If you are referred or self-referred, our coordinator or nurse may contact you ask about your child's feeding or swallowing difficulties. They may ask you questions about current feeding status, the reason for the referral, your primary health concerns, airway or belly issues, and medical background.

We will provide you with several forms and surveys to complete. You may submit them to us through My Health at Vanderbilt, or you may bring them with you to your appointment

During your visit

You will meet with our gastroenterologist, otolaryngologist, speech and language pathologists and feeding clinicians to discuss the concerns you have for your child, medical history, prior tests or procedures, and the reason your child was referred.

We may perform a swallow study or evaluation in the clinic. To do this, we may watch your child eat or drink, take X-ray images of their swallowing system while eating (VFSS), or place a tiny flexible camera in their nose and watch their voicebox and throat while swallowing (FEES).

If we need more imaging or labs, we will try to coordinated them for the same day as your visit in our clinic.

If we decide it is best, we may recommend your child have an endoscopy procedure in the operating room to evaluate and treat their throat, larynx or esophagus. To minimize the amount of time your child would be under anesthesia, we would coordinate this procedure with others that your child's otolaryngologist or gastroenterologist decide are also needed.

Our care team and other experts at Monroe Carell will determine the next best steps for your child on this clinic visit day. These may include surgery, medical management or therapies, or a combination of them.