Oral motor patterns during feeding in severely physically disabled children

Oral motor patterns during feeding were investigated in 58 patients with severe physical disability. Five patients showed a pattern resembling sucking. Twenty-nine exhibited an up-and-down movement of the jaw and protrusion of the tongue. Among these, the mouth opened when the food entered and the lips closed before swallowing in 20 patients; the mouth was constantly open in nine. Eight had an up-and-down movement of the jaw without protrusion of the tongue. These patterns were frequently seen in patients with spastic tetraplegia caused by neonatal asphyxia and compensated for oral motor impairment. Sixteen patients showed lateral movement of the jaw at some time during feeding; in these patients the texture of the food was more coarse than in those with other patterns.