Masters in Speech Language Pathology, Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology, Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
Masters in Speech Language Pathology, Department of Speech-Language Pathology, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysuru, India.
J Intellect Disabil Res. 2019 Aug;63(8):992-1014. doi: 10.1111/jir.12617. Epub 2019 Apr 4.
The anatomical and physiological characteristics such as neuromotor coordination impairments and craniofacial and structural abnormalities frequently interfere with the acquisition of effective oral-motor skills which can in turn result in the development of potential feeding problems and swallowing dysfunction. The present study was undertaken with the aim of assessing the feeding and swallowing problems, if any, in children with Down syndrome in the age range of 2-7 years.
A questionnaire was formulated and administered on 17 children with Down syndrome (10 females and 7 males) and 47 typically developing children (20 females and 27 males).
The present study revealed that feeding difficulties were predominantly present in children with Down syndrome. These difficulties were found in all the three phases of swallow and were greatest for solids followed by liquids. They also had issues with physical, functional and emotional aspects of feeding. Further, the children with Down syndrome exhibited poor orosensorimotor abilities which could have lead to the difficulties in feeding.
The study highlights the importance of including feeding assessment in the evaluation protocol of infants and children with Down syndrome.
神经运动协调障碍以及头面部和结构异常等解剖学和生理学特征常干扰有效口腔运动技能的习得，进而导致潜在的喂养问题和吞咽功能障碍。本研究旨在评估 2-7 岁唐氏综合征儿童的喂养和吞咽问题。
对 17 名唐氏综合征儿童（10 名女性，7 名男性）和 47 名正常发育儿童（20 名女性，27 名男性）进行问卷调查。
本研究显示，唐氏综合征儿童主要存在喂养困难。这些困难存在于吞咽的三个阶段，固体食物的困难最大，其次是液体。他们在喂养的生理、功能和情感方面也存在问题。此外，唐氏综合征儿童表现出口腔感觉运动能力差，这可能导致喂养困难。
本研究强调了在唐氏综合征婴儿和儿童的评估方案中纳入喂养评估的重要性。
