AN INVESTIGATION OF CHARACTERISTICS RELATED TO ORAL MOTOR AND SWALLOWING DISORDERS IN CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL PALSY: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY

Purpose: Oral motor problems and swallowing disorders are common in children with cerebral palsy (CP). This study was planned to examine the oral motor and swallowing related descriptive characteristics of children with CP. Methods: This study was carried out with 90 children with CP (39 girls and 51 boys) with a mean age of 70.35 +/- 2839 months. Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) was used for functional motor level. The Tongue Thrust Rating Scale (TTRS) for tongue thrust severity, Karaduman Chewing Performance Scale (KCPS) for chewing performance level, Pediatric Eating Assessment Tool (PEDI-EAT-10) for dysphagia symptom severity and Drooling Severity and Frequency Scale for drooling were used. Results: According to GMFCS, 55.6% of children were in level V. The 87.8% of the children had pathological tongue thrust. The mean PEDI-EAT-10 score was 15.42 +/- 11.41. Chewing disorders were detected in 85.6%. and drooling was detected in 87.8% of CP children. The GMFCS level, clinical type of CP, presence of open mouth, food consistency and the number of pneumonia correlated with all oral motor and swallowing assessments (p<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, various oral motor and swallowing disorders were identified in children with CP, and a Turkish community-specific general profile of these children was obtained.