This letter responds to the 2025 article, “Esophageal Screening During the Videofluoroscopic Swallow Study: Roadblocks and Roadmaps” (Watts et al., 2025), which stated that American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) practice documents on esophageal screening have not been updated since 2004. The referenced ASHA policy documents were formally rescinded by the ASHA Board of Directors in 2017 and 2021, as their content is addressed within current ASHA online resources. The ASHA Practice Portal and Evidence Maps provide up-to-date, evidence-based guidance on dysphagia assessment, including esophageal considerations, through a structured review and update process. Relevant resources include the Adult Dysphagia Practice Portal, the Videofluoroscopic Swallow Study resource page, and evidence and consensus statements within the Adult Dysphagia Evidence Map. In addition, ASHA has recently published new practice resources to further clarify the speech-language pathologist's role in esophageal screening during videofluoroscopic swallow studies.
Morrell et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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