FEES: Advanced course
Facilitated by Dr Susan Langmore and Dr Margaret Coffey
Limerick, Ireland
June 16, 17, 2023
Purpose: This course is designed for SLTs who have taken a Langmore Foundation course
or who are FEES competent (performing FEES independently) and who want to update
their protocols, scoring and interpretation of FEES procedures. Throughout the two day
workshop (including breaks and Q&A sessions), participants will have an opportunity to
hear about updates and to sharpen their skills, share their experiences, and calibrate
their skills against Dr Langmore and other participants. It will be an interactive course.
Course objectives:
On completion of Days 2 & 3, participants will be able to:
- Summarize the latest FEES research
- Calibrate scoring of patients with dysphagia against instructor and other participants
- Be able to use techniques to obtain maximal visualization during the exam
- Identify patterns of dysphagia seen with FEES; interpret dysphagia in terms of
underlying deficits
- Familiarize yourself with different protocols and scoring systems
- Explain how to use endoscopy tool to provide therapy and manage patients
- Outline the side effects of head and neck cancer treatment and how these impact
swallow function.
- Explain the benefits of FEES for instrumental swallow evaluation for people with
head and neck cancer.
- Develop knowledge of which swallow outcome measure tools can be used to
interpret FEES for people with head and neck cancer
About the Course Facilitators:
- Susan Langmore, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S
Dr. Langmore is a clinician, teacher, and researcher. She has worked as a speech pathologist
her entire career, and has worked extensively in aphasia, dysarthria, and dysphagia. She has
worked in acute care, ICU, rehab, and outpatient settings, and with patients who have
neurologic diseases, pulmonary conditions, and head and neck cancer. Dr. Langmore has made
many significant contributions to the field of Speech Language Pathology, starting with the
development of the FEES procedure in the 1980's. She has altered the medical field's perception
and management of aspiration pneumonia with her research in the 1990's, and has recently
completed a multi-center NIH funded clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of electrical stimulation
for dysphagia in head and neck cancer patients. Dr. Langmore was awarded the ASHA
Fellowship in 1998 and then ASHA Honors in 2012, and currently serves as the president of
the Dysphagia Research Society (DRS). She has served on NIH review committees and is a
reviewer or editor of a dozen medical journals. Currently a Professor of Otolaryngology at
Boston University School of Medicine and Clinical Professor at Boston University Sargent College,
she mentors junior faculty and is involved in a number of clinical trials. When not working, she
enjoys yoga, wine, skiing, and traveling the world.
- Dr Margaret Coffey is a Clinical Academic Speech and Language Therapist with extensive
experience in the evaluation and treatment of dysphagia. Margaret has developed her clinical
skills working in recognised centres of excellence in both the UK and the USA. She currently
works at Imperial College Healthcare Trust in London, UK and is an honorary Senior Clinical
Lecturer at Imperial College London, UK.
Margaret is especially interested in the evidence based use of instrumental swallow evaluation
tools including FEES to evaluate and manage swallowing function after head and neck cancer.
She was one of the first SLTs in the UK to be awarded a prestigious National Institute of Health
Research (NIHR) Clinical Doctoral Fellowship pioneering the use of FEES as a swallow
evaluation tool for people with laryngectomy. Margaret was recently awarded a NIHR Advanced
Fellowship to continue her post-doctoral work on an early stage clinical trial investigating the
feasibility of an exercise based intervention to improve swallow function for people with
laryngectomy.
Margaret has published in leading peer reviewed journals and regularly provides teaching and
organises courses aimed at promoting evidence based clinical care. She has contributed to
national clinical guidance including the RCSLT FEES position paper and competency framework
and the UK Multidisciplinary Head and Neck cancer guidelines.
Margaret was recognised by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT)
with a fellowship in 2021. Margaret was also awarded an honorary MBE in the Queen’s Birthday
Honours in 2022 for her work during the Covid 19 pandemic.
More about this course:
Venue: This training event will take place in-person only, at University of Limerick, The Pavillion
Registration below if you wish to attend the two day advanced course only, on 16th and 17th June
Cancellation policy: Cancellation fee applies for places cancelled within one month of cancellation, depending on the amount of notice given. Any cancellations should be emailed to cpdadmin@iaslt.ie
