George Barnes MS CCC SLP

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Rochelle Park, NJ
George Barnes MS CCC SLP

Med SLP specialist in MBSS, trach/vent, and aspiration pneumonia management. Mobile FEES provider. Making Swallowing Simpler

📍Greater NYC 🍎

02/26/2026

Dysphagia begins with swallowing but extends to every area of a patient’s life...

Nutrition, breathing, and the simple joy of a meal with someone you love.

Parkinson’s Disease can turn a banal function like swallowing into a painstaking struggle where it takes multiple attempts to clear just one bite.

What works for PD?

EMST: Improving cough force to help patients eject aspirated material.

LSVT: Using the crossover effect of voice therapy to improve pharyngeal function.

Dignity-Centered Care: Prioritizing quality of life for as long as possible.

Because it’s not always about safety. It’s about living a life worth living, too.

What have YOU found works best for YOUR patients with PD?

Reference: Kwon, M., & Lee, J. H. (2019). Oro-pharyngeal dysphagia in Parkinson’s disease and related movement disorders. Journal of Movement Disorders, 12(3), 152–160.

02/25/2026

And there are tons of barriers

They range from too much focus on productivity to the doctor’s unwillingness to listen to your recs to colleague’s outdated use of the evidence…

Nobody is going to solve these things overnight, but addressing them is still important.

I’m toying with a new course on how we can facilitate change in our facilities.

Can you help me?

What are the biggest problems you face as an SLP and what might you need to help solve those problems?

02/24/2026

When it comes to Parkinson’s, we often focus on the most visible symptoms: tremors, slowed movement, and a shuffling gait.

But what about the symptoms we can’t see?

While only about 1/3 of patients with PD report subjective swallowing difficulty, objective testing tells a different story...

82% of patients actually have dysphagia.

Because patients often don’t “feel” the difficulty until late in the disease process, silent aspiration becomes a hallmark risk.

Find out what you need to know to get in early and make a real difference for your patients.

Comment “SLP” for this week’s article.

Reference: Kwon, M., & Lee, J. H. (2019). Oro-pharyngeal dysphagia in Parkinson’s disease and related movement disorders. Journal of Movement Disorders, 12(3), 152–160.

02/20/2026

While we usually attribute dysphagia to neurological disease or injury, those seemingly harmless little pills in your patient’s organizer can quietly worsen a swallowing disorder—or even jumpstart one where it never existed before.

The 4 Ways Medications Impact the Swallow:

🏜️ Xerostomia (Dry Mouth): Anticholinergics can “shut off” the salivary glands, turning a smooth swallow into a tumbleweed in a desert.

🐢 Motor Function: CNS depressants can slow down the precise coordination of the 26 pairs of muscles required for a safe swallow.

🚪 GI Motility: Certain meds “bribe” the stomach’s bouncer (the LES) to stay open, inviting reflux to damage the laryngeal tissue.

🕳️ Mucosal Damage: Some pills can get physically lodged in the esophagus, creating ulcers that make every bite feel like shards of glass.

We have to stop looking at the swallow in a vacuum and start looking at the whole patient.

What medications have your patients recently had trouble with? Share below!

02/18/2026

What’s your approach to documentation? How do you stay efficient AND effective? 👇

02/17/2026

Ever try to go down a water slide without the water? Not quite the ride you’re looking for, is it?

Swallowing with xerostomia is similar.

For a smooth swallow, we need constant lubrication so the bolus can slide effortlessly.

But many of our patients are on medications that “turn the water off” without warning.

Anticholinergics (I.e., antihistamines and antidepressants) cause xerostomia, which may increase the risk of choking, residue, and aspiration.

Want to learn more about how meds impact swallowing? Comment “SLP” for this week’s article.

Happy reading!

02/12/2026

During the height of the pandemic, the internet was flooded with conflicting information.

It was the perfect environment for snake-oil salesmen to thrive.

Today, that same misinformation targets our patients with chronic, complex conditions like dysphagia.

So... How do you know which “breakthrough” is actually credible?

Try the CRABS mnemonic (reference below)

🦀 Conflicts of Interest: Does the author stand to gain financially?

🦀 References: Is there actual data backing the claim?

🦀 Authorship: Who wrote this, and what are their credentials?

🦀 Buzzwords: Are they using “emotional” language to bypass your logic?

🦀 Scope of Practice: Is the creator actually qualified to speak on this?

What approaches do YOU use to tell the nonsense apart from those clinical golden nuggets? Share below!

Reference: Stokes-Parish, J., Habibi, R., & Toomey, S. (2022). Navigating the credibility of web-based information during the COVID-19 pandemic: Using mnemonics to empower the public to spot red flags in health information on the internet. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(6), e38269. https://doi.org/10.2196/38269

02/11/2026

Tips for an easily distracted introvert please… 👇

02/10/2026

Science isn’t dramatic. It’s slow, tedious, and—to be frank—a slog.

If you see a post using high-emotion language or promising a “quick fix” for a complex issue like dysphagia, remember: You are looking at marketing, not medicine.

Medical progress doesn’t happen through “hacks.”

It happens through 100,000 researchers pushing a boulder the size of Manhattan...

One inch at a time.

That’s why the keywords I look for aren’t “miracle” or “secret”—they are “randomized controlled trial” and “systematic review.”

To protect our clinical decisions, we need a filter to interrogate the messages we see online.

The good news is that a filter already exists.

Want to learn what it is?

Comment “SLP” for this week’s article!

01/28/2026

Nice try! What are three things you CAN confirm at the bedside. Go 👇

01/26/2026

My patient won’t stop coughing—is it their swallow?

We see it daily: a patient has an endless cough, and the primary goal is to rule out aspiration.

But if that cough persists both during and outside of mealtimes, you aren’t looking at a swallowing disorder—you’re likely looking at a refractory chronic cough.

Think of it as a hypersensitive laryngeal “alarm system” that has lost its calibration.

Instead of more inhalers or restrictive diet modifications, these patients often need Behavioral Cough-Suppression Therapy.

This approach addresses the complex interplay of laryngeal irritation and nervous system sensitivity.

Want to learn more? Comment “SLP” for this week’s article.

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Rochelle Park, NJ
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