Knowledge and Skill Level: Basic to intermediate - saslha

Workshop:
Managing Paediatric
Feeding Disorders
Presenters:
A/Prof Mershen Pillay (SLP/Audio)
Speech Therapist
Specialist Dysphagia Practitioner
Mr. Meqdad Mahmoud (OT)
Specialist Paediatric Occupational Therapist
Neuro-Developmental Therapist & Tutor
East London
(exact venue to be confirmed)
13 th – 14 th April 2013 (Sat/Sun)
Local Contact:
Luanet Smit (luanets@absamail.co.za)
Knowledge and Skill Level: Basic to intermediate training/experience in managing dysphagia.
16 CEUs (including 2 CEUs for ethics) (pending HPCSA approval).
Audiences: Main: Speech Therapists; Secondary: Occupational & Physiotherapists, Nurses, Doctors
This two-day workshop is intended to enhance practitioners’ skills in working with eating/drinking
disorders especially with the preschool and school aged population (excluding neonates/infants). The
core focus is on children who are mainly physically challenged to manage mealtimes both safely and
appropriately, e.g. children with cerebral palsy. Minimal reference is made to children with difficulties in
feeding due to behavioural problems, autistic spectrum disorders and/or emotional-behavioural issues.
Delegates will develop greater understanding of the normal development of eating, drinking and
associated skills. Clinical skills development will focus on screening and assessment of dysphagia with an
emphasis on aspiration management. Delegates will leave with knowledge/skills as per their
disciplinary scope of practice in either schools, homes, outpatient clinics or hospitals. Delegates will
engage with focused case studies and practical sessions.
Learning Objectives: At the end of this workshop delegates will demonstrate knowledge and skill
regarding the following:
1. An integrated model of feeding and swallowing for children
2. Feeding and swallowing skills: developmental
aspects
3. Oral motor skills and the confluence of body
biomechanics, position and posture on
feeding/swallowing
4. Sensory skills related to feeding/swallowing
5. Development of respiration and swallowing in
paediatric population
6. Paediatric dysphagia: nature, pathophysiology
and types of disorders
7. Clinical feeding and swallowing evaluations of
children
8. Paediatric instrumental swallow evaluations
9. Developing feeding and swallowing
management plans
10. Treating oral motor dysfunction in children
11. Management of saliva disorders
12. Diet textural modifications in feeding
disordered/dysphagic children
13. Use of utensils to manage feeding
14. Managing gastro-oesophageal reflux disorders
in children
15. Special considerations for tracheostomised
and/or ventilated children
16. Decision making for oral to non-oral (and viceversa)
feeding

Presenters’ Biographies:
A/Prof. Mershen Pillay is a speech-language therapist and audiologist. In London
(England), Mershen, currently employed at Stellenbosch University, provided specialist
services to adults with severe disorders through Lewisham’s community services
and the Royal Free & St Pancras hospitals. In SA, he was a clinical tutor and lecturer
(UKZN) and also provided private services to hospitals and schools. In the United
Arab Emirates he has worked as a clinical practitioner/rehabilitation supervisor at a
Cleveland Clinic managed hospital (Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, United Arab
Emirates). He has practiced under accreditation by the Joint Commission for
International Accreditation and is currently Supervisor of Audiology and Speech
Pathology services at Mafraq hospital (Abu Dhabi). He is competent with a range of
non-instrumental/instrumental assessment and therapy methods such as
videofluoroscopic swallow_ and fibre-optic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing
(FEES) studies, surface electromyography (sEMG) and techniques such as deep
neuromuscular pharyngeal stimulation. He has also received training under masterclinicians
such as Prof Susan Langmore (USA) who is the inventor of FEES and an
ASHA Board Recognised Specialist in Dysphagia. Mershen served as the Editor-in-
Chief of the SA Journal of Communication Disorders and is an active clinical
researcher. He has honorary positions as research associate at the University of
Cape Town and as a senior lecturer involved in post-graduate student training at the
University of KwaZulu Natal. He presents and publishes his work on
dysphagia/other topics in South Africa, Europe, the UK, the USA, Canada, the Middle
East, the East, Australia and the Caribbean. He is also a contributing author in an
international textbook on life history research (by Sense Publishers, Rotterdam,
2009) and in Occupational Therapy without Borders: Volume 2 (Elsevier, 2011).
Meqdad Mahmoud is a Palestinian/Jordanian Occupational Therapist who worked
with Mershen in Abu Dhabi at the Bumrungrad International managed, Mafraq
Hospital. He has worked across Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He
provides specialist paediatric OT services and is highly respected in the region as
well as internationally. Meqdad is a Bobath Tutor (trained across England and South
Africa) and is currently a student at UCT’s Disability Studies Unit. Like Mershen,
Meqdad has worked as a supervisor and clinical practitioner at a Joint Commission
for International Accreditation hospital (Cleveland Clinic-Sheikh Khalifa Medical
City) and has been instrumental in developing OT services in the UAE.