Patty
"Failing" the swallow test is a relative term. When I used it, I could not even get down a quarter teaspoon, let alone a full glass. Like yourself, I was puzzled when they abruptly said: you're done - get a PEG asap.
It was not until I had demanded my record file in trying to get the exact time that "transport" had dumped me in the basement hallway with the trash (turns out they keep no record of when transport picks you up or returns you), that I saw that I had "silent aspiration" even with that measly little quarter teaspoon. This is just a sharing anecdote as Brian has provided the correct clinical answer (no surprise there) Little by little we will prevail.