What is Paediatric Dysphagia?
Paediatric Dysphagia is a physical difficulty with feeding/eating and/or drinking in children. It may involve difficulty with chewing, co-ordinating lip and tongue movements, or swallowing.
Why is a child with feeding difficulties referred to a Speech and Language Therapist?
Some Speech and Language Therapists have undertaken extra training in the area of Dysphagia. A Speech and Language Therapist will often work together with other professionals (e.g. Dietitians, Health Visitors, Paediatricians, Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists).
Children who have feeding difficulties due to:
- Premature birth
- Specific conditions such as Cerebral Palsy or Down’s Syndrome affecting physical abilities
- Cleft palate
- Gastro-oesophageal reflux.
- Delayed or disordered physical development
- Structural anomalies (tongue – tie, laryngeal cleft, atresia,)
- Aversive feeding behaviour
Some children have isolated eating and drinking difficulties that may be related to sensory differences. This is particularly so for Autistic children (ASD) and those with a difficult feeding history.
A child may have difficulty with the following:
- Aspiration (food or drink going down the wrong way into the lungs)
- Choking episodes
- Poor nutrition and weight loss
- Poor health
- Food refusal and distress at mealtimes
- Difficulty moving on to new food textures
- Difficulty weaning
- Reluctance to accept new foods
- Restricted diet
- Gather background information about feeding history and current presentation
- Assess your child’s eating and drinking skills and identify appropriate textures for food and fluid in line with IDDSI levels.
- Identify any significant risks such as aspiration, choking, aversion, stress cues.
- Offer advice around mealtime routines and the introduction/acceptance of new foods
- Monitor your child’s progress as necessary
- Refer and liaise with other professionals. For example, Dietitians, Paediatricians, ENT Consultants, Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists.
Only medical referrals made by a GP or Paediatrician will be accepted. Please send in a referral here.
As part of your child’s care, you may be asked to attend a workshop which will give you important information about how you can support your child at home. You can find information about these workshops below.
Sensory based eating and drinking differences workshop:
This workshop is an hour-long workshop delivered virtually by a Dysphagia training Speech and Language Therapist. On this workshop you will learn
- What sensory based eating and drinking differences are
- The symptoms of sensory based eating and drinking differences
- Strategies to help your child at home and school and resources to support this
- To understand the scope of Speech and Language Therapy input
Physical eating and drinking difficulties workshop:
This workshop is an hour-long workshop delivered virtually by a Dysphagia training Speech and Language Therapist. On this workshop you will learn
- The stages of the swallow
- Difficulties that can occur at each stage of the swallow
- Signs and symptoms of difficulties to look out for
- How to help a child with physcial eating and drinking difficulties
