A dietitian's primary considerations are to keep your quality of life as high as possible by maintaining safe and adequate nutrition and hydration, in order to prevent life-threatening nutritional deficits from developing. The dietitian may assess or evaluate the following:

• functional abilities (ability to self-feed or to administer tube feedings);
• nutritional status and present intake.

The dietitian may recommend the following strategies:

• appropriate changes in food texture and consistency;
• appropriate methods of food preparation;
• substitutions for hard-to-manage foods;
• meals of a manageable size and frequency;
• strategies for improving nutritional deficiencies.

The respiratory therapist generally devises strategies to optimize remaining muscle function and reduce discomfort, and institutes a program of chest care if necessary. Other tasks may include:

• evaluating pulmonary function status;
• maintaining pulmonary hygiene;
• providing suggestions for managing decreasing function;
• offering information on body positioning, energy conservation, relaxation, and compensatory techniques to improve breath support for nutrition and for speech;
• facilitating a home ventilation program if appropriate;
• making suggestions concerning a course of action when respiratory failure occurs.

A speech-language pathologist provides advice on techniques and strategies to allow the person with ALS to continue to communicate throughout life. Some functions of the speech-language pathologist may include:

• evaluating the individual's motivation and potential for learning new techniques;
• evaluating functional abilities, such as oral motor function, cognitive-linguistic function, augmentative communication function, and swallowing function;
• determining the most efficient communication function;
• training people with ALS and family members in techniques of effective communication and energy conservation, and safe eating, drinking and swallowing techniques.

In addition to the doctors and nurses, you may be referred to a social worker. The social worker's tasks may include

• promoting an understanding of, and adjustment to, ALS;
• sharing information about available community resources;
• providing information on legal matters;
• assisting in assigning priorities and making long-range plans;
• giving emotional support to the person with ALS and to family members.

A minister, priest, chaplain or pastoral care worker may perform the following functions:

• listening to and empathizing with those who want to vent concerns;
• assisting in making decisions;
• giving support during emotional or physical crises;
• acting as an advocate for those who have no voice;
• reassuring people with ALS that their lives have meaning;
• encouraging people with ALS to discover their personal strengths;
• encouraging people with ALS to recapture positive experiences from the past by recall or reminiscence;
• celebrating the individual's humanity and worth;
• arranging and conducting services when appropriate.