Self-Study: Dysphagia Deconstructed: Understanding the Underlying Medical Causes of Swallowing Disorders (Part 1)

Patheous Health Imaging and Patheous Health Education officially closes on March 31, 2026. Any learner who satisfactorily completes a self-study course by midnight EST on March 31st, with the intention to earn ASHA CEUs, will be reported to the ASHA CE Registry. It is our understanding that educational content will still be available after March 31st until August 1st. Self-study courses completed after March 31st will not be reported to the ASHA CE Registry. Learners will obtain a certificate of completion verifying the number of Professional Development Hours (PDHs) earned. Documentation should be kept and tracked by the learner.

Course Description:

The purpose of this course is to explain various medical conditions and their impacts on swallowing function. This information will allow clinicians the opportunity to better understand dysphagia trajectory and prognosis as it relates to the underlying medical cause. Five body systems will be addressed in this presentation: nervous, endocrine, integumentary, reproductive, digestive. The following topics will be covered for each dysphagia etiology: definition, explanation of why the disease process causes dysphagia, prevalence and characteristics of dysphagia, predictors of dysphagia, dysphagia prognosis, common medical treatments, and disease specific prognostic and outcome measure tools.

Time Ordered Agenda:

  • 0-10 minutes: Introduction
  • 10-80 minutes: Nervous System 
  • 80-90 minutes: Endocrine System
  • 90-100 minutes: Integumentary System
  • 100-110 minutes: Digestive System
  • 110-120 minutes: Summary, Q&A


Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will identify one disease process that causes dysphagia for each body system discussed.
  • Participants will list three predictors of dysphagia pertaining to stroke.
  • Participants will describe the dysphagia prognosis for a digestive system dysphagia etiology.


Webinar Notice

Successful participation in this course includes completion of the post-test with a score of 80% or higher, then participants will automatically receive a course completion certificate.  

This course is offered for 2.0 Professional Development Hours.

Refund Policy

There are no refunds for self-study courses. 

If you have any questions, please email [email protected] or call 877-390-1887.

Instructor(s)

M.S., CCC-SLP Caroline Ward

Caroline Ward is a Speech-Language Pathologist practicing in acute care in a trauma/ comprehensive stroke center and working as a mobile FEES endoscopist. Since starting her career, Caroline has worked to incorporate actionable research into her practice to bring more objectivity into her clinical decision making. She continues to run her hospital’s successful journal club after initiating it four years ago. She’s taken on numerous extracurricular endeavors aiming to assist SLPs in applying research to clinical practice; including podcast appearances, being an invited content creator for CEU materials focused on degenerative diseases, and providing free digestible research summaries on her professional Instagram. Disclosures: I receive an honorarium for this presentation. There are no other disclosures to report.