Aerodigestive Clinic

The Aerodigestive Clinic treats children and adolescents with complex upper airway, breathing and digestive tract disorders.

The Aerodigestive team provides coordinated care with otolaryngology, pulmonary, gastroenterology, nutrition and speech language pathology providers.

• Otolaryngology provider (ear, nose and throat doctor or specialized nurse practitioner)
• Pulmonary provider (lung specialist doctor or specialized nurse practitioner)
• Gastroenterology provider (digestive doctor or specialized nurse practitioner)
• Speech and language pathologist (evaluates feeding and swallowing)
• Nutritionist (registered dietitian)
• Audiologist (hearing specialist), if needed
• Respiratory therapist, if needed

The length of your visit depends on your family’s needs, the number of providers your child needs to see and tests your child may need.

Most visits last 2 to 3 hours. Please bring books, toys and snacks with you.

Answer questions and provide medical history

Your child will see a team of experts who will ask you and your child questions about their medical history. They also will examine your child, schedule or do necessary tests, and answer questions.

Tests

There may be tests we need to do right away or others we may need to schedule for another time. Tests that same day may include:

A hearing test

An X-ray of the neck or chest

Lung function tests

Flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopy
A small flexible telescope goes through the nose to evaluate the throat and voice box. This is brief and is done while awake during the clinic visit.

Fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing
We insert a thin flexible telescope into the nose while your child is feeding to look at the throat while swallowing.

Videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS)
A test to look at how your child swallows foods and liquids. We make an X-ray “movie” of your child’s mouth and throat while they are drinking and eating.

Clinical Feeding/Swallow Evaluation
Most patients will have a Clinical Feeding/Swallow Evaluation. Please see information below on what to expect and how to prepare.

Blood work

Plan of care and next steps

At the end of your visit, we will give you a copy of our recommendations for your child’s plan of care. We will talk about your child’s results with other providers on the care team at our team meeting. If we recommend changes to the care plan, we will call you to talk about them.

• Make sure your child comes hungry.
• Continue any medications your child is taking.
• Bring a familiar cup, bottle or other special feeding items your child uses at home.
• Bring familiar food and drinks so we can observe what your child typically eats. If your child has difficulty with certain foods/textures, please bring one of these.
• Come prepared to talk about your child’s daily eating and drinking habits, routines, and schedule. If possible, bring a 2- to 3-day food diary.

• Clinic notes or reports about operations done outside of Children’s
• Your child’s medicines and medical equipment
• Forms that providers need to sign, like school forms
• Imaging or study results done outside of Seattle Children’s, like X-rays, swallow studies, sleep studies, growth charts, reports of blood work or other tests
• Food diary, cup or bottle, and food and drink listed above for the “Clinical Feeding/Swallow Evaluation”