Learning Needs

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?

Swallowing disorders have always interested me. I think this first occurred to me when my brother-in-law could no longer swallow and had a feeding tube inserted into his stomach. It really bothered me that Kenny could no longer eat because he enjoyed his food a lot. I kept thinking there has to be a better way. Because of this feeding tube he seemed to have less interest in the activities going on around him. I felt like he was starving to death. I hated this feeling of helplessness and I wondered why there wasn't a device or something to make it better for him. At the time I knew absolutely nothing about swallowing disorders or how the swallow reflex was triggered.

I feel like my essential question should deal with this aspect. After talking to Ms. McComas about this I decided on: Why do people who can't chew or swallow feel like life has less meaning? I am also interested in swallowing disorders in children, as I truly love working with children.

What do I already know about swallowing disorders is very little. I know that some of the causes could be a disturbance of the nervous system or there could be a problem in one of the swallowing phases. I can't fully answer what don't I know about this topic because I have so much to learn.