Welcome to Season 2 of the No Plateau Podcast! We’re excited to kick off this next season with speech and language pathologist Teresa Biber LoMonte to discuss how she developed the Biber Protocol and the ways it’s actively helping individuals and stroke survivors recover.
Teresa specializes in working with patients that experience facial paralysis, dysphonia, and dysphagia, and she begins by breaking down the misconception that this issue is primarily physiological.
“Eating is incredibly important to our social well being… Everything revolves around food. Every culture has very specific foods that are associated with the celebration, you know, of their culture… It’s a substantial impact on the quality of life of any human being.” (4:18)
As she worked in settings with occupational and physical therapists at the beginning of her career, she realized that there was a gap in the care for her patients and couldn’t understand why electrical stimulation wasn’t being used for the part of that body that she worked with.
“The next words out of my mouth were, ‘Why don’t we have access to this,’ number one, “in the speech pathology community?”, and ‘Why can’t we use this for our patients with swallowing disorders and facial paralysis?’” (20:55)
She has a huge heart for the lives and families of her patients and believes in continuing to advance her knowledge so she can eliminate gaps in the healthcare system. Tune in to the first episode of the season to hear about her journey to where she is today and how her protocol is changing lives.
In This Episode
(1:09) Teresa Biber LoMonte shares her background
(2:28) Dysphagia 101
(6:02) The prevalence of dysphagia
(7:59) Common strategies that therapists utilize
(12:35) Different interventions for dysphagia
(18:28) What is the Biber Protocol?
(26:13) Teresa’s journey after initially discovering this technique
(32:07) What makes the NMES protocol unique
(38:00) Pushback on NMES
(42:28) The necessary steps to utilize the protocol
Our Guest
Teresa Biber LoMonte is a language and speech pathologist that developed The Biber Protocol after discovering that electrical stimulation was not being utilized for individuals experiencing facial paralysis, dysphonia, and dysphagia. She believes in constantly advancing her skills and knowledge to help her patients regain the ability to speak, swallow, and communicate.
Resources & Links
Henry Hoffman on LinkedIn
Saebo
On YouTube
On Instagram
On LinkedIn
Saebo’s Stroke Caregiver Support Group
Saebo’s Stroke Survivor Support Group
The Biber Protocol
Teresa Biber LoMonte’s LinkedIn
Contact Teresa
