Feeding-swallowing difficulties in children later diagnosed with language impairment

The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the relationship between feeding-swallowing difficulties (FSDs) and later language impairments in children.

Retrospective analyses were carried out using the clinical files of 82 children with language impairments from a large urban rehabilitation center. Two subgroups of these children were established: children with motor impairments, referred to as the language impairment with motor impairment ('LI+MI') subgroup (n=23, mean age 4y 6mo, SD 8.7mo), and children without motor impairments, referred to as the language impairment without motor impairment ('LI-MI') subgroup (n=59, mean age 5y, SD 8mo). The prevalence of food selectivity, difficulties in sucking, salivary control issues, and food transition difficulties was extracted. Data were compared with a general population estimate of FSDs.

FSDs were documented in 62% of the clinical files; 87% of these files were from the LI+MI subgroup and 53% were from the LI-MI subgroup. Among each subgroup of children with language impairments, the prevalence of FSDs was significantly higher than the general population estimate of 20% (LI+MI:χ(2) =55.965, df=1, p<0.001; LI-MI: χ(2) =32.807, df=1, p<0.001). Furthermore, the prevalence of FSDs was significantly higher in children with language impairments and motor impairments than in those with language impairments but without motor impairments (χ(2) =6.936, df=1, p<0.01). Both food transition difficulties (χ(2) =14.99, df=1, p<0.001) and salivary control issues (χ(2) =5.02, df=1, p=0.02) were more frequent in the LI+MI subgroup than in the LI-MI subgroup. Combinations of two or more FSDs were also more frequent in the LI+MI subgroup than in the LI-MI subgroup (χ(2) =4.19, df=1, p=0.04).

These findings suggest that early FSDs may be used as a potential marker for language impairment. However, larger prospective studies are needed to confirm this.