patients with severe neuromuscular disease and in patients with
severe agitation. Many clinicians have therefore used other
methods (often subjective) in addition to the DQ. Questionnairebased
subjective assessment of drooling has been described; this
involves the measurement of the severity and frequency of
drooling. The Drooling Severity and Frequency Scale (DSFS) [9],
is one of such subjective methods whereby parents are asked to
rate the severity and frequency of drooling. The weight and
number of bib changes per day is another method that can be used
to measure drooling [10,11].
While the addition of subjective methods is beneficial, their
validity has been scarcely studied. This uncertainty, and a desire to
give clinicians a simpler tool to guide treatment of drooling, has
been the rationale for the current research.