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McCarty Center Therapists Acquire New Pediatric
Treatment Certification
Three speech-language
pathologists at the J. D. McCarty Center for
children with developmental disabilities in
Norman recently received their pediatric certification
in VitalStim therapy.
VitalStim therapy is a
non-invasive, painless therapy that uses electrical
stimulation to stimulate the muscles responsible
for swallowing while a certified therapist help
patients re-educate the muscles with special
exercises. The small, carefully calibrated current
is delivered by specially designed electrodes,
which are placed on the neck. This stimulates
motor nerves in the throat while that patient
practices swallowing exercises that cause the
swallowing muscles to contract. With repeated
therapy, muscles are re-educated and the quality
of the swallowing function improves.
The Food and Drug Administration
have approved VitalStim's technology for the
treatment of dysphagia.
"This certification
gives us another tool in our treatment tool
box to treat kids with dysphagia," said
Reni Hanley, director of communication disorders
at the McCarty Center. "Kids with cerebral
palsy, autism, down syndrome, cleft palate,
prader willi syndrome, charge syndrome and premature
infants can have swallowing issues that can
be treated with VitalStim therapy. Anything
effecting the brain may effect swallowing, she
added"
"This treatment tool
can improve a patient's quality of life; reduce
the number of hospital visits due to aspiration;
increase the variety of foods and liquids a
patient can have; and decrease choking episodes,"
said Hanley.
VitalStim therapy requires
a doctor's order for treatment. Treatment sessions
are typically two to three times per week and
last about an hour. Patients will generally
start seeing results within 10 sessions.
While used on children
and adults, the placement of the electrodes
on children is different. "Children are
a developing target," explained Hanley.
"As they grow, the placement for the electrodes
on the neck change, so we need to be sure we
have the optimum placement to get the best results."
McCarty Center speech-language
pathologists receiving their pediatric certification
in VitalStim therapy were Reni Hanley, Chrissy
Hancock and Kathy Morton.
The J. D. McCarty Center
is Oklahoma's center of excellence in the care
and treatment of children with developmental
disabilities from birth to age 21. Founded in
1946, by veterans group called the 40 et 8 of
Oklahoma, the hospital only treated one diagnosis…cerebral
palsy. Today the McCarty Center has treated
more than 70 different diagnoses in the developmental
disability category.
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