118 On the Look Out for Dysphagia – Instructor Guide
On the Look Out for Dysphagia
Instructional Guide
This lesson covers the baseline knowledge and tests students’ understanding of dysphagia at this level. Lesson also dives into the topic to allow students to learn about dysphagia at a deeper level.
Intended Grade Level
This lesson is intended for students in the 9th- 12th grade. Students should be familiar with general anatomy of the GI system, such as the esophagus, stomach, intestines. Students should be comfortable with scientific language.
Learning objectives
- Students will be able to define dysphagia
- Students will be able to identify causes of dysphagia
- Students will be able to understand the signs of dysphagia
- Students will be able to understand possible treatments of dysphagia
Lesson Format
This can be done in any size group.
- Firs students read a short introduction to dysphagia, then delve into the specific of the disease process (20 minutes)
- Then students are given a link to play a Kahoot It! game to try out their new knowledge (10 minutes)
- Afterwards, students will take a short quiz that reflects the objectives of the lesson (5 minutes)
Lesson Background
Dysphagia is the inability to properly swallow. There can be multiple causes, which will be discussed in detail, but the end result will be the same: the animal cannot swallow. This is distinct from regurgitation, when an animal’s food comes back out of its mouth before it has reached the stomach, and vomiting, in which an animal’s food has reached the stomach, then is expelled back out. So, if an animal is experiencing dysphagia, what comes out of its mouth will look very similar to the food it was just eating, as it has not experienced any kind of digestion. If an animal is regurgitating, the food will look more chewed and mushy, and they will appear to have slight effort getting the food up and out. If an animal is vomiting, their food will look like it has started the process of digestion, and they will have a lot of full body effort to get the food up and out.
Dysphagia can be caused by nerve issues, rabies, bad dental health, or a foreign body, which is when there is something stuck in the animal’s throat that they should not have eaten, like a toy.
When an animal is unable to swallow, this means that they are not able to consume any of the food they are attempting to eat. So, their body is not receiving any of the nutrients it needs and any of the nutrients that the food is providing.
Activities
Students are provided a link to a Kahoot It! game to answer questions in a game-show style manner to test what they have learned.
Common misconceptions and challenge points
A potential challenge for students could be understanding the complexity of dysphagia and how different causes (nerve damage, rabies, dental issues, and foreign bodies) can lead to similar symptoms like drooling and difficulty swallowing. Since dysphagia is a relatively complex medical term, students might struggle with distinguishing between these causes, especially without direct observation of a cat or animal in distress. To address this, you can emphasize key differences in symptoms during the clue phase (e.g., rabies might show aggression, while a foreign body would cause drooling or gagging). Additionally, you can simplify the explanation of how nerve damage affects swallowing by describing it in terms of “signals” not getting to the muscles needed to swallow or how dental issues are directly related to pain while chewing.
Assessment
Students are provided a short quiz reflecting the materials in the lesson.
Further exploration
Other lessons within this textbook about the same topic may be interesting for learners:
Whiskers’ Swallowing Struggles: A Journey to a Purrfect Diagnosis
