What’s on the menu?

Testing snack foods sounds like anyone’s dream job, and Rocky Bay’s Speech Pathologists are doing just that (and more!) to support customers.

Neuro/Rehab Speech Pathologist, Steph Hogg, along with Speech Pathologists Megan Chin and May Chong, and with assistance from Curtin University Speech Pathology student, Roslyn Dungey, are in the process of testing supermarket foods with the goal of creating an easy to make snack guide for customers on modified diets.

“Lots of our customers are on a modified diet due to swallowing impairments, so we wanted to develop something like a shopping list for them to easily choose ‘grab and go’ snacks appropriate for their diet that have already been tested,” explains Steph.

“We’ve tested foods for different levels of modified diets, such as muffins, pancakes, different bags of chips and snacks, rice puddings and different kinds of yogurt.”

Steph explained that the snack guide will also support customers to visit the shops independently for their grocery run.

The snack guide will take the form of a visual shopping list, with pictures of snack items categorised into sweet and savoury.

“Individuals on modified diets can spend a lot of time and effort on considering what foods they can have and how to make the food item consistent for their diet,” said Steph.

“(The snack guide) will give customers a wider selection of foods that are tasty and that they would want to eat.”

Once the snack guide is complete, the team will trial it with customers at Rocky Bay’s Lucy Creeth Residence, with the aim to expand the initiative to all Rocky Bay customers. We look forward to the launch of this new initiative!

Click here to find out more about Rocky Bay’s speech pathology services, or call our friendly team on 08 6282 1900 for a chat.