There are many ways in which we can examine the effectiveness of our treatment strategies:

It is difficult to develop paradigms for treatment efficacy research that allow the evaluation of treatment effect without other confounding variables. One model that has been used is the examination of the immediate effect(s) of a treatment technique applied during a diagnostic study. The patient will swallow with and without the treatment procedure (preferably in random order) and the difference is the outcomes measure examined on the swallows with and without the treatment. Since treatment is given over a very short period in a single session, the effect of recovery is negated.