Oral-Motor and Oral-Sensory Problems in Pediatrics

💡💡The oral-motor aspect of eating involves how the mouth muscles function: how strong the muscles are, how well they coordinate the range of motion and how far they can move as they manipulate food in the mouth. 

💡💡The oral-sensory aspect of eating involves how the mouth tissues perceive sensory information such as the taste, temperature and texture of food. 

💡💡Children can have problems with either part of the eating process or both; there is often overlap with feeding disorders. Some children may be hypersensitive to oral stimuli, causing them to gag, grimace or have other strong reactions to certain types of food.

💡💡Others may be hyposensitive (in other words, under-responsive): They may not feel food in their mouths or may let it drop out of their mouths without realizing it.

💡💡Some children with oral-sensory problems can have a feeding aversion to how foods feel or taste but will have no problem putting other things in their mouths. Children with general oral aversions will gag or vomit in response to anything in their mouths.

💡💡Both oral-motor and oral-sensory problems are caused by problems with nerves. 

💡💡Some children may be born with nerves that function abnormally and may never have experienced a normal eating experience.

💡💡Others may develop altered nerve patterns if they’ve experienced a lot of medical issues (surgeries or extended hospital stays that required tube feeding). Anything that interrupts normal eating at a critical developmental stage can have an impact.

💡💡There are certain sensitive periods when a child’s brain is ready to learn new eating skills such as spoon feeding and solid table foods. Introducing those skills too early or waiting too long can result in oral-motor and/or oral-sensory problems.

💡💡There can also be a behavioral component in addition to the physical problem. A child who frequently vomits may develop an aversion to food, for example. Feeding disorders are often multifaceted and thus require an interdisciplinary approach from pediatric feeding specialists who can treat the physical and behavioral aspects of the problem.

 Prevalence oral-motor and oral-sensory problems

💡💡Five to 10 percent of typically developing children have a serious feeding disorder at some point, and that could include oral-motor or oral-sensory problems. Up to 80 percent of children with developmental disabilities have some sort of feeding disorder.

#PFD #pediatricdysphagia #medslp 

References

https://childrenswi.org/medical-care/gastroenterology-liver-and-nutrition-program/conditions/oral-motor-and-oral-sensory-problems