Speech Talk
Speech Talk is a podcast for speech-language pathologists who want to stay current with research but lack time to read it. Hosts Emily and Eva, both working SLPs, translate clinical studies into practical advice. They cover topics like cognitive screening, medication management, adult neuro rehab, and discharge planning with evidence, empathy, and sarcasm. New episodes release every other week.
Episodes
So Burnt Out You Mix Up the Podcast
In this episode we discuss burnout and productivity pressure in adult medical speech-language pathology and related rehab settings. We focus on how long workdays, inconsistent hours, documentation demands, and holiday coverage contribute to stress in skilled nursing facilities, assisted living, hospitals, and outpatient clinics.We look at a 2024 study of rehab practitioners in skilled nursing and
Do You Know Apraxia When You See It?
How do we actually diagnose apraxia of speech when there’s no gold-standard diagnostic test? In this episode, we break down recent research on apraxia differential diagnosis and discuss how to distinguish apraxia from aphasia and dysarthria. We cover common characteristics of apraxia, clinical impressions, the Apraxia of Speech Rating Scale (ASRS), and why relying on obvious signs like groping may
Why Do We Care About Diet Texture? The Rationale Behind Diet Texture Recommendations
In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva explore how chewing, food texture, and swallowing are connected—and why diet texture matters for swallowing safety and patient care. Why do we care about diet texture? Because the texture of the food changes as we chew or don’t chew and food factors like gumminess, hardness, and moisture impact the strength we recruit for the swallow.
They break
Can You Hear Yourself Talking?
What happens when the brain can’t hear its own speech errors?
In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva explore the speech-auditory feedback loop and how it can be disrupted after brain injury. They unpack new research on error detection, automatic versus voluntary correction, and what these findings mean for aphasia therapy.
Plus, practical strategies for helping patients build awareness, s
Don't Fear the Tracheostomy
This week on Speech Talk, we're diving into one of the most medically complex—and often intimidating—areas of speech-language pathology: tracheostomy rehabilitation.
We break down the research on how speech-language pathologists are involved (or unfortunately, often not involved) in tracheostomy care and why early SLP intervention can make a significant difference in communication, swallowing, an
How Do We Even Treat Dysarthria?
Do oral and pharyngeal exercises help post-stroke dysarthria? Emily and Eva examine a recent review (Yunusova et al.), unpack why swallowing outcomes often show benefit while speech outcomes do not, discuss goal-writing pitfalls, and get into practical treatment. Talking about their own practice and how they address dysarthria treatment- because if we don't talk we can't learn from each other.
The Art (and Science) of Clinical Supervision
Supervision is so much more than signing off on competencies. It shapes clinician confidence, patient care, and the future of our profession.
In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva welcome their very first guest, Olivia, to reflect on her completed externship and unpack what effective supervision really looks like. Together, they explore the research on clinical supervision, discuss differ
Finding the Right Dose for Dysphagia Treatment
How many repetitions does it take to improve swallowing? How hard should dysphagia exercises be? And are we prescribing enough therapy to make a meaningful difference?
In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva tackle a question many clinicians have asked but few were formally taught to answer: how do we dose dysphagia therapy?
Using the article Exercise Prescription for Dysphagia: Intensity
The First 90 Days: Understanding Stroke Recurrence Risk
A patient survives a stroke, starts rehab, and begins making progress. But what if their greatest risk isn't behind them?
In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva dive into the often-overlooked topic of recurrent stroke. While many clinicians focus on recovery, research suggests the first 90 days after a stroke may carry a surprisingly high risk for another cerebrovascular event—and the way
Chronic Aspiration
What happens when we can’t stop aspiration?
In this episode, Eva and Emily talk about chronic aspiration and what happens when small, repeated events start to add up. From inflammation and airway damage to serious complications like pneumonitis and lung abscess, we break down what’s really happening in the lungs.
We also connect the research to real clinical practice—what this means for your pat
The River and The Rock: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Ever feel like you’re fighting your patient just to get through a session?
Explore Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as a framework for speech therapy—not psychotherapy, but a way to rethink how we approach resistance, engagement, and progress.
Using the metaphor of “the river and the rock,” Eva and Emily unpack how ACT shifts us away from power struggles and toward flexibility, values-bas
Choking Risk
Choking is one of those moments where everything goes from normal to crisis in seconds—but how well are we actually measuring that risk?
In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva break down the integrative review “Dying for a Meal” to explore what really contributes to choking across populations. From who is most at risk to the foods most commonly involved, the research reveals that choking i
Reseach but Make it Accessible
Research is supposed to guide our practice—but what happens when we can’t actually access it?
In this episode of Speech Talk, Eva and Emily get into the reality of paywalled research and what it means for evidence-based practice in speech-language pathology. Breaking down the article “The Effect of Open Access on Scholarly and Societal Metrics of Impact in the ASHA Journals,” they explore how acc
Does “Wet Voice” Actually Mean Dysphagia?
Does a “wet” voice really mean your patient is aspirating?
In this episode, Eva and Emily unpack research that challenges one of the most common clinical signs used in dysphagia assessment, wet vocal quality. Turns out, what we’ve been trained to hear might not be as reliable as we think.
The need for instrumentals hasn't gone away, but the biggest national providers of mobile FEEs has...So what
Thickened Liquids...It’s Complicated
Thickened liquids are one of the most common recommendations in dysphagia management—but are they always the safest option?
In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva review The Adverse Effects and Events of Thickened Liquid Use in Adults: A Systematic Review and dig into the real evidence behind thickened liquids. We talk aspiration risk, dehydration, pneumonia, quality of life, and why dysph
The Difficult Dance: The SLP’s Role in Huntington’s Disease
What does evidence-based practice look like when the disease is progressive, fatal, and relentlessly complex?
This week on Speech Talk, Emily and Eva discuss clinical management of Huntington’s disease in long-term and residential care settings. Using a comprehensive 2007 primer for speech-language pathologists, we explore dysphagia progression, dysarthria, AAC challenges, behavioral supports, st
Bone Spurs & Bolus Flow: Cervical Osteophytes and Dysphagia
In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva dive into cervical osteophytes (aka bone spurs in the neck) and how they can mechanically impact swallowing. We break down what osteophytes are, why they form, and how they can present just like “typical” dysphagia — globus, coughing, choking, wet vocal quality — but may gradually worsen over time.
We talk about imaging (Because how else would we even
Setting the Stage for Dementia Care
How do we decide what to treat—and how—as dementia progresses?
In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva break down the article Staging and Treatment Frameworks for Dementia Management by Mason-Baughman, Raupp, and Corman. We review how dementia is staged clinically, how those stages show up in communication and daily function, and what evidence-based treatment actually looks like across earl
Getting Ahead of Dysphagia: Prehab in Head & Neck Cancer
Up to 80% of patients treated for oropharyngeal head and neck cancer experience swallowing dysfunction—but what if we intervened before impairment starts?
In this episode of Speech Talk, Eva and Emily break down the evidence behind prehabilitation for head and neck cancer, drawing from the literature review by Loewen et al. We unpack what prehab actually is, how swallowing therapy before and duri
A Very Geri Problem: Traumatic Brain Injury in Aging
Traumatic brain injury isn’t just a young‑guy‑playing‑sports problem. This week on Speech Talk, we’re diving into TBI in older adults—a population with the highest rates of hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality related to brain injury.
Using the ASHA review Traumatic Brain Injury in Older Adults: Epidemiology, Etiology, Rehabilitation, and Outcomes, we break down why TBIs are so common (and s
How 'bout a Quickie: Dysphagia Screeners
This week on Speech Talk, we’re breaking down two of our favorite fast and evidence-backed dysphagia screeners: the TOMASS and the Yale Swallow Protocol. If you’ve ever been buried in a busy SNF day and wished for a quick but reliable way to check someone’s swallow, this episode is your new best friend.
We walk you through how each tool works, what the research says, and why a simple cracker and
The Productivi-Tea: Sipping on SNF Reality
Productivity: the push button topic in the SNF world. If you’ve ever felt torn between what’s ethical and what’s expected, this episode will hit home.
Instead of a research article, we dive into Akyko S. West’s dissertation on productivity requirements and moral distress in SNF rehab therapists (SLPs, PTs, OTs, RTs, and their assistants). This paper READS like every conversation we’ve had in brea
Dysphagia Outcome and Severity Scale: DOSS It Matter? (Spoiler: Yes.)
We break down the Dysphagia Outcome and Severity Scale (DOSS)—a 7-point scale created to bring consistency, clarity, and objective severity ratings to dysphagia evals. We dig into the original 1999 article, why the scale was developed, and how SLPs can use it to support documentation, payor justification, and person-centered goal writing.
Citation:
Dysphagia Outcome and Severity Scale (DOSS)O
MCI...Now What?
How likely is someone with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to develop dementia down the line? In this episode, we’re digging into two key studies that explore how different types of MCI—amnesic, non-amnesic, and multi-domain—relate to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Breaking down what the data says, what tests matter most, and what we can actually say when patients ask, “So… am I going to have de
Should Food be Pretty?
How gross is puree? This week, we’re talking about dysphagia and food presentation. We looked at a study that compared how patients felt about molded versus un-molded purees (spoiler: looks matter, but taste still wins). We’ll talk about how this ties into patient intake, quality of life, and what we actually can do about it in real-world settings—especially when we're not running the kitchen. Gra
Chat- Can You Write Our Next Episode?
In this episode, we’re diving into the world of AI and how it’s showing up in speech-language pathology. We looked at two articles—one on using AI to rate dysarthria severity, and another on using ChatGPT to help make therapy materials. We’ll break down the basics of machine learning and deep learning, talk about what works (and what’s still kind of clunky), and share how we’ve been using these to
When walking-walk. When eating, Eat-10
The EAT-10 is a quick self-assessment tool used in dysphagia screening, but how valid is it really? In this episode, Eva and Emily break down a study by Möller et al. that evaluates both the structural and clinical validity of the EAT-10—and what that means for your practice. Plus, we introduce a free Badge Buddy resource to help you screen more efficiently.
Freebies:
Eat-10/Section K Badge Bu
What? I can't hear you- Hearing loss and Dementia??
Join Eva and Emily as they explore whether hearing loss contributes to dementia. They break down key research, including the ACHIEVE study, and share insights for clinical practice. Learn how SLPs can advocate for hearing screenings, support social engagement, and recognize when cognitive changes might actually be related to hearing. Plus, real stories from the field and thoughtful discussion abou
Oh My GERD
In this episode of Speech Talk, Eva and Emily explore how GERD impacts swallowing, nutrition, and patient care in skilled nursing facilities. Learn how to recognize GERD-related symptoms, advocate for proper referrals, educate CNAs, and navigate precautions like posture and diet modifications. With clinical research and personal stories, they break down practical steps SLPs can take to make a diff
Cognitive Stimulation in Dementia
This week, we’re diving into one of the murkiest waters of SLP practice: cognitive interventions for people with dementia. When you hear “Well, can’t you just work on following directions?”—do you cry inside? Same. That’s why we’re unpacking a meta-analysis to give you the research-backed confidence to stand your ground.
We reviewed “Do cognitive interventions improve general cognition in dementi
Lemon Swab
Get ready to brush up on your oral care knowledge! 🦷 In this episode, Emily and Eva explore the world of oral hygiene products in SNF care—what works, what doesn’t, and what might actually be harmful. Whether you're an SLP, nurse, OT, or just really into responsible toothbrushing, listen up because this was made for you!
We break down the findings of the article “Hospital Mouth: Dental Aids May C
When to Phone a Friend
In this episode, we dive into the importance of interdisciplinary communication and how tools like SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) can enhance patient safety and care quality. We explore findings from the research article "Impact of the communication and patient hand-off tool SBAR on patient safety: a systematic review" by Stock et al., and discuss how structured communica
Say Ahh
What does your oral mech exam really tell you? In this episode of Speech Talk, Eva and Emily get down and dirty (with tongue depressors, not drama) and explore why the phrase 'say ahh' is so iconic.
They cover what is a normal oral cavity for our geri crowd, how to link findings to clinical hypotheses, and how to improve your diagnostic skills even when patients can’t cooperate as much as you mig
Mild Cognitive Impairment
Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): what it is, how it shows up, and what SLPs can actually do about it. In this episode, Emily and Eva break down how MCI differs from moderate and advanced dementia, how to approach screening, and how to design meaningful therapy when patients are still “too high” for traditional treatment plans.
They share practical ideas for early intervention, motivational interv
The PEG Decision: What Are We Really Choosing?
To PEG or not to PEG? In this episode of Speech Talk, Emily and Eva confront the clinical gray zones around percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placements in older adults.
They unpack what PEG tubes actually do (and don’t do), their potential impact on malnutrition and aspiration pneumonia, and how to talk to families and care teams when emotions and ethics collide. You’ll also learn h
Aphasia Month Bonus! QAB
In honor of National Aphasia Awareness Month, we’re diving into a practical and research-supported tool that every clinician should know about—the Quick Aphasia Battery (QAB). If you’ve ever felt a little rusty when it comes to aphasia evaluation and treatment, this episode is for you. We break down the research by Lucanie et al., explain how the QAB can save you time while giving you a multidimen
Training Medication Management
Eva and Emily dig into the intersection of cognitive impairment and medication management in older adults. Based on the study by Gorodesky et al., they explore how common cognitive errors—like perception failures and rule-based mistakes—impact a patient’s ability to read pill bottles, open containers, and organize medications.
With hilarious patient stories and a toolbox of clinical tips (includi
Where Are My Teeth?
Dentures, dysphagia, and swallowing safety — how do they all connect?
In this first episode of Speech Talk, speech-language pathologists Eva Johnson and Emily Brady dive deep into the world of speech therapy for older adults, focusing on oral phase dysphagia, denture fit, and swallowing disorders in medically complex patients. Perfect for SLPs, SLP grad students, and anyone interested in speech t
We Do the Research, You Do the Rest
Two speech-language pathologists walk into a podcast. There’s no punchline, but for some reason we’re still laughing.
Emily and Eva embark on reading the research so you don’t have to. If you’ve ever squinted at a pillbox, questioned your own functional goals, or wondered how to sneak more clinical education into your life without actually reading a journal article… we got ya!
New episodes every
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