Foreword

One of the pleasures of choosing topics and working with guest editors for Seminars in Speech and Language is that you get to meet new people and get to learn new things. This particular issue on New Frontiers in Dysphagia Rehabilitation has been especially rewarding in this regard. It is truly exciting to see the beginning, the coming together, of neuroscience, tradition, and new technologies in the management of dysphagia and to have the opportunity to share it with Seminars students and readers. Working with this issue, and particularly with JoAnne Robbins, has finally shown me-whose head is always deeply buried in the sands of language and its disorders-what is so exciting and challenging about swallowing and its disorders. I think I am finally “getting it” and am thrilled to share my enthusiasm with you.

The idea for this issue was spawned by Christy Ludlow, Ph.D., who is a member of the Seminars Advisory Board. Thank you, Christy, for your help in enlisting the services of JoAnne Robbins, Ph.D., who has assembled a significant number of the leading lights in the study of dysphagia. And readers, read on with excitement!