Pediatric Aerodigestive Clinic

Choosing the Aerodigestive Clinic at Children’s National

There are many benefits to your child receiving care in a specialized clinic. Most importantly, you can feel confident that every specialist working with your child has expert knowledge of his or her condition and how to treat it most effectively. Our clinic offers:

• A team approach. Our clinic combines the expertise of specialists across Children’s National, including Otolaryngology (ENT), Gastroenterology, Pulmonary Medicine, Sleep Disorders and Speech Therapy.
• One-stop care. Our collaborative approach means better care for your child in one appointment, at one location, where your child can see all specialists together. Follow up appointments are scheduled as needed with the entire team or specific providers.
• Personalized treatment. We develop a comprehensive, personalized treatment plan with your family and child's care team that is tailored to meet their unique needs.

What to Expect During Your Visit to the Aerodigestive Clinic

During your child's clinic visit, they will be seen individually by each of the specialists. A fiberoptic flexible scope is recommended for some patients during the clinic visit. This is a procedure where the airway above the vocal cords is examined by placing a small camera through the nose. A feeding evaluation and pulmonary function test may also be completed. At the completion of your visit, the Aerodigestive team will meet and finalize a treatment plan for your child. This plan will be shared with you and your primary care provider.

The plan may include recommending additional or changes to medications, additional testing (such as blood work and X-rays), and further evaluations including a modified barium swallow, full feeding evaluation or FEES (fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing). For some patients, an intraoperative evaluation of the upper airway, lower airway, esophagus and stomach may be recommended, which will be scheduled for a later date.