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Oral and nonoral sensorimotor interventions facilitate suck-swallow-respiration functions and their coordination in

Sandra Fucile1, David H McFarland, Erika G Gisel

  • 1School of Physical & Occupational Therapy, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada. sandra.fucile@mail.mcgill.ca

Early Human Development
|October 4, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Sensorimotor interventions, including oral and tactile/kinesthetic methods, improved feeding coordination in preterm infants. These interventions enhanced nutritive sucking and swallow-respiration patterns, showing broad benefits beyond targeted input.

Area of Science:

  • Neonatal development
  • Pediatric feeding disorders
  • Sensorimotor integration

Background:

  • Preterm infants frequently experience oral feeding difficulties.
  • Early sensorimotor interventions show promise for improving oral feeding skills.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the impact of oral (O), tactile/kinesthetic (T/K), and combined (O+T/K) sensorimotor interventions on nutritive sucking, swallowing, and respiration coordination in preterm infants.

Main Methods:

  • Seventy-five preterm infants were randomized into O, T/K, O+T/K, or control groups.
  • Interventions involved sensorimotor input to oral structures (O) or trunk/limbs (T/K).
  • Outcomes included sucking stage, suction/expression amplitudes, suck-swallow ratio, and swallow-respiration patterns.

Main Results:

  • The O group demonstrated significantly more advanced sucking stages and greater amplitudes than controls.
  • All three interventions reduced swallows bracketed by prolonged respiratory pauses compared to controls.
  • T/K and O+T/K groups showed more swallows bracketed by expiration than control and O groups.

Conclusions:

  • Oral sensorimotor intervention specifically enhanced nutritive sucking components.
  • All tested sensorimotor interventions improved swallow-respiration coordination.
  • Sensorimotor interventions offer widespread benefits exceeding their direct input targets.
Abstract

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