Contact & General Service Information

• Speech Language Pathology - Pediatrics
• Pediatric Feeding & Swallowing – Outpatient Services

For Your Appointment

Remember to bring your child’s Alberta Healthcare card and a piece of photo ID.

Contact the department and speak with a speech language pathologist about any special equipment or items you should bring to your appointment.

Parking

• University of Alberta Hospital - Parking Map

Finding Us

Speech-Language Pathology is located in room 1G1.11 on the main floor of the Stollery Children’s Hospital.

From the 112 Street main entrance walk down the hall to the left of the escalators; clinic entrance will be on the right hand side.

What to Expect

The clinic visit takes approximately one hour and includes an interview to learn about your concerns, an examination of how your child’s mouth is working, and an observation of how your child eats and drinks. This will help us to understand the problem, find ways to make feeding easier and safer, and decide if further testing is needed.

A videofluoroscopic swallow study (VFSS) may also need to be completed and is typically scheduled for the same day. This study will be completed with a speech language pathologist and a radiologist. The study involves making an x-ray videotape of your child while he or she eats and drinks. This test allows us to see where the food and liquid go when your child swallows. It helps us to better understand the swallowing problem by observing the movement of structures that we would not be able to see otherwise.

Unless you receive different instructions, please prepare your child for this test by doing the following:

1. Your child should NOT eat or drink 3-4 hours before this visit as a child who is hungry is more likely to eat during this visit. All medications should be taken at regularly scheduled times.
2. Bring your child’s feeding utensils (favorite bottles/nipples, pacifiers, cups and/or spoons) and a typical meal for your child (something to eat and drink). Depending on your child’s age and feeding experiences, the meal may include liquids and foods such as:
   • a thin liquid to drink (formula and/or juice)
   • a thin puree (applesauce consistency)
   • a thick puree (pudding consistency)
   • a mixed consistency (like fruit cocktail- has liquid with chucks of food mixed together)
   • food that requires chewing
   • a food or liquid that your child has trouble handling

Bring enough food for both appointment times.

Your child may also be scheduled for a fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of the swallow (FEES) which is the passage of a tiny camera in through the nose to view the structures of your child’s nose and throat and how these structures function when your child drinks, eats and swallows.