Synopsis of resource
Eating, drinking and swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) are commonly identified in children with cerebral palsy and other developmental conditions and leads to serious health consequences including aspiration, choking and malnutrition. Texture modification of food and drinks is commonly used to help mitigate these difficulties; however miscommunication of diet textures has resulted in serious consequences including death. The International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative (IDDSI) is a global standard with terminology and definitions to describe texture modified foods and thickened liquids used for individuals with dysphagia of all ages, in all care settings, and for all cultures. The IDDSI website https://iddsi.org contains IDDSI resources for individuals with disability, families, caregivers and health professionals to help with dysphagia management. Resources include demonstration videos, consumer handouts and peer reviewed publications documenting the evidence supporting the IDDSI Framework and it’s development. A number of translated versions of the IDDSI Framework, descriptors and testing methods also available.
Key learning outcome
- Demonstrate knowledge of how an international standard for dysphagia diet terminology and descriptions can help improve safety for individuals with dysphagia and can also facilitate research to benefit those with dysphagia
- Be able to utilize and demonstrate use of the IDDSI testing methods
- Be able to locate the many resources available for use
- To consider how implementation of IDDSI could be of benefit in any local context.
Authors
Dr. Julie Cichero (SLP, Australia)
Julie Cichero is a speech pathologist and specialist in dysphagia research. Julie led the development of the Australian standardized terminology and definitions for texture modified foods and fluids.
Please see https://iddsi.org/about-us/iddsi-board/ for further information about IDDSI authors and board members.
