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Feeding and Dysphagia in Children with Cerebral Palsy

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Cerebral Palsy

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Abstract

Each child with cerebral palsy is unique, as the characteristics of their impairment, which applies to the oro-motor function as well. This chapter describes the challenges that the child, the caregiver, and the rehabilitation therapist can encounter with regard to feeding, underlining the importance of referring to the physiological phases of development and appropriate facilitations to promote the child’s oro-motor skills. The brief description of physiological swallowing is followed by an overview of dysphagia in CP, together with indications on what to observe in both the term and preterm infant and a selection of practical suggestions for therapeutic intervention. When addressing the problems of feeding, the rehabilitation therapist needs to pay attention to the positioning of both the child and the caregiver and to the sensory characteristics of the environment. Facilitation techniques and tools to promote the infant’s oro-motor functions are discussed, together with their use during daily life activities such as eating, drinking, and oral hygiene.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rehabilitation Department, Degli Infermi Hospital, Ponderano (Biella), Italy

    Monica Panella

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  1. Monica Panella
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Correspondence to Monica Panella .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. DIBRIS, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Psiche Giannoni

  2. DSS, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    Liliana Zerbino

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Panella, M. (2022). Feeding and Dysphagia in Children with Cerebral Palsy. In: Giannoni, P., Zerbino, L. (eds) Cerebral Palsy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85619-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85619-9_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-85618-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-85619-9

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