Foundations in Manual Therapy: Voice and Swallowing Disorders

Speaker: Walt Fritz, PT

General Info

Target Audience:	Speech Language Pathologists (SLP), Occupational Therapists (OT), Physical Therapists (PT), Massage Therapists, and Voice Coaches/Teachers
Course Date:	Saturday, April 18, 2026 - Sunday, April 19, 2026
Time:	Registration at 8:00 a.m., Course from 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Location:	UPDATED LOCATION Memorial Hermann Memorial City, 929 Gessner Road, Houston, TX 77024 Memorial Hermann Tower 12th floor Conference Rooms ABC
Class Size Limit:	In Person: 28
Parking:	Nearby parking is available for FREE in Garage 5. 924 Frostwood, Houston, TX 77024
Handouts:	Electronic handouts will be shared with all attendees prior to the course via email. Please print or download the materials prior to the course for your use.

Course Description: The clinician will understand and apply manual therapy (MT) and exercise as a multifactorial method of impacting voice and swallowing issues. Using a biopsychosocial approach to evaluation and intervention, the clinician utilized evidence to support this MT model and, through hands-on experiences, acquired immediately applicable clinical skills in the context of the diagnoses faced by the rehabilitation clinicians, such as speech language hearing pathologists, occupational therapy practitioners, physical therapy practitioners and those who perform massage in this region. Areas of interest include voice, swallowing, oral-motor disorder, tongue dysfunction, jaw opening and function, breathing, pain, and performance limitations.

Manual therapy, myofascial release, vocal massage, laryngeal manipulation, and other forms of manual care are often stated to eliminate or improve a tissue, postural, or biomechanical problem. A nearly unlimited number of contributing factors set the issue in place, and an equally complex tapestry of elements contributes to successfully remedying the problem.

This class centers around two central themes. The first is obvious: teaching the clinicians the use of manual, touch-based therapy to remediate voice, swallowing, oral motor, tongue-related, breathing, and similar problems. Second, a concept of equal importance is introducing a patient-centered model of care, one solidly grounded in shared decision-making (SDM). The core concepts of SDM, now widely accepted in our shared literature, can be applied to any intervention, not just manual therapy.

Learning Objectives/Outcomes: Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Demonstrate the ability to apply an effective patient directed method of manual therapy evaluation.

2. Describe and demonstrate the various treatment options in a manual therapy session, including cross-handed, single-handed, compression, gathering/lifting, and traction.

3. Describe options and apply effective treatment for the remediation of various voice/swallowing and related disorders.

Assessment of Learning Objectives: Completion of Course Assessment Form, Lab with hands-on instruction to demonstrate competency in demonstration of assessment objectives, quiz with 80% will be available for 2-hour online seminar

1. A passing score on the written, multiple-choice examination, given at the end of the online, pre-seminar module and the live, in-person seminar. A grade of 80% or higher is required to pass.

2. Accurate demonstration of the treatment techniques as observed by the course instructor during the hands-on portions of the live class.

3. Completion and submission of all post-seminar required forms.

4. As all aspects of this course’s introductory material and hands-on components form the foundations of the approach, no partial ASHA CEUs will be awarded. Full participation

in the entire 14.5 contact hours will be required. If you need to leave the seminar early, fail to meet the 80% grade on either quiz or fail to meet the expectations in the hands-on performance aspects, you agree to forfeit the ASHA CEUs and not receive a certificate of completion.

5. An online module containing the background information to support this work must be completed before the live seminar. The module will take approx. 2.0 hours to complete. Should the module not be completed, you will not be permitted to participate in the live portion of the seminar. The link to this online module will be emailed to you before the live event. This online module aims to allow the hands-on training in the live event to begin as soon as possible.

6. Three weeks before the class, you will receive an email with the link to the online course, syllabus download instructions, directions, and other details. If you do not receive the email, please get in touch with us.

Instructional Methods Used: Lecture & small group lab

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