Feeding Therapy for Down's Syndrome Child
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Tongue thrust in Down's Syndrome
In tongue thrust the child completely extends his or her tongue outside the border of the lips. The tongue's movement is forceful and is often maintained in the extended position. Tongue thrust also occurs more often when the child is positionined in trunk and nexk extension.
This forceful tongue movement results in loss of food or liquid from the mouth and does not initiate a swallow. Children with severe tongue thrust may lose much of the food presented to them.
Sample Treatment Options
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Many Different Therapies, But One Great Goal !
Children born with Down syndrome are often involved in many different types of therapies, that involve many different techniques. The important thing to keep in mind is that they are all meant to achieve one great goal.
Most of Down's Syndrome child are the child with hypotonia influenced to hypotonia oral muscular often have overall postural instability.
Postural instability results in poor postural alignment and increased difficulty with oral motor skills. When upright, the child may fall into trunk and cervical flexion. When slightly reclined, his or her head may fall into extension. When the child's neck is in hyperextension, neck alignment is not appropriate for safe and efficient swallow and also affected to performing functional movement.
Postural Alignment
Improving the child's postural alignment and stability through good positioning is often helpful in promoting oral motor function. Some oral motor problems immediately resolve when the child is well positioned in good postural alignment. Appropriate alignment for feeding consists of the following :
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Neutral pelvic of alignment of the trunk. Pelvic alignment is promoted when the child sits well supported against a flat back, on a flat seat, and square on the buttocks with 90 degree of knee flexion.
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Good head, neck and shoulder alignment with the head in slight flexion or at neutral
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Chin tuck with the back of the neck in an elongated position
The child can achieve corect postural alignment in various positions, depending on the size of the child and his or her postural stability
Spoon Feeding For Down's Syndrome
1. Hold the spoon sideways, so that the side of the spoon is touching each side of the mouth, let the child get the food off it that way.
2. Immediately turn the spoon the other way (still sideways, but facing a different direction) and feed the child.
3. Then turn the spoon again the opposite direction and let them get the last bit of the food off.
It is best for this to be done 3 times in a row, like the above picture shows, because then it helps keep that tongue in. If you just do the sideways spoon feeding once, then the child can put his tongue out to help swallow the food or lick the food off of his lips. After you do it 3 times the child will hardly stick his tongue out at all after that last bite, since he has already been swallowing the food.
Source : gotdownsyndrome.blogspot.com
Oral Massage Before Feeding
Children with hypotonicity of oral musculature often benefit from
; vibration,tapping and quick stretch of cheecks and lips provides sensory input that increases muscle tone around the mouth.