Feeding skills and growth after one year of intraoral appliance therapy inmoderately dysphagic children with cerebral palsy

We determined changes in functional feeding skills and growth after one yea r of intraoral appliance therapy in dysphagic children. Twenty children, 4. 2-13.1 years of age (average 8.3 +/- 0.9 years), participated in this study . Children wore the appliance daily. Phase I of treatment (6 months) aimed primarily at stabilizing the mandible and phase II aimed at facilitating in gestive skills. A control period of 6 months preceded treatment. Functional feeding skills improved significantly during phase I beyond changes seen d uring the control period. Further significant improvement occurred in chewi ng during phase II. All children significantly gained weight (kg) during th e control period, as well as during the two treatment phases. This weight g ain was sufficient for children to maintain their growth trajectory. There was also significant growth in height (cm). This growth spurt was character ized by marginal catch-up. Jaw stabilization was a major contributor to the significant improvement in functional feeding skills. Weight gain cannot b e attributed to intervention because it occurred during the control period and was the same in magnitude through both treatment phases. However, it pe rmitted a period of growth in stature which previously had been described o nly after tube feeding.