What are the areas of professional practice that capture my interest (this might be a disorder, anything related to treatment or diagnosis, etc)? With respect to this general topic, what would an essential question for me be? What do I already know about this topic? What don’t I know about this topic?

I guess the area that captures my attention is swallowing. The biological function of swallowing sounded so complicated to me until Ms. Allman explained it last semester in neurogenics. She told us to swallow and then think about what was involved. The only thing that I knew was that my tongue pressed up against the roof of my mouth, my airway closed, and I could feel my larynx with my fingers move upward. So basically I knew very little of what the swallowing process involved. I’m not saying that I know much more than that now because I don’t but Ms. Allman was able to fill in some of the gaps that I had. She taught us that there are four phases to swallowing, oral prep phase, oral phase, pharyngeal phase, and esophageal phase and that the brainstem is our swallowing center. So now in regards to my knowledge about swallowing I feel like I have a basic foundation and I hunger to know more.

Another burning desire that I have had for a long time is related to an individual’s satisfaction with being able to chew food. What is it about the chewing process that makes a person feel satisfied and content with food? Why must a person chew their food rather than drink it through a straw or be feed by a tube? What is it about the chewing and grinding process? Is this a psychological factor or is it deeper than that? I don’t know but I am extremely curious about the feeling people get from the chewing process. Are humans just geared this way? I don’t even know if this question is appropriate to be my essential question but one day I would like to find the answer.

Geneva