For most, the ability to eat with peers in the school cafeteria, or participate in family dinners is a given. However, a significant subset of the population is unable to safely and independently participate in communal mealtime due to oropharyngeal dysphagia. It is crucial that clinicians to be knowledgeable and comfortable with the intricacies of their young patients’ conditions in order to maximize the effectiveness of treatment. This requires a detailed understanding of the Brain-Mouth-Gut connection and the impact common pediatric disorders have on it.  Ultimately, it is the clinicians’ goal to establish these connections, and to help patients live up to their fullest potential.

This one-day course is designed to educate attendees on the ins and outs of the Brain-Mouth-Gut connection, what leads to breakdowns in this system, and how these breakdowns can result in oropharyngeal dysphagia. Attendees will take home interventions unique to the needs of their medically fragile and complex pediatric patients from birth into early childhood.   

Course Content:

• Survey of the Brain-Mouth-Gut connection
  •  Foray into respiration.
• Typical reflex development
  • Nutritive suck
  •  Mastication
  • Progression of bolus viscosity

• Medically fragile caseload
  • How specific diagnoses and treatments can lead to oropharyngeal dysphagia
    • When to make referrals to specialists

• Alternatives to PO (by mouth feeding)
  • Types, locations, implications
  • Disruption to digestion process and nourishment

• Intervention
  •  Approaches focused on patient access to ADLs
    • Special consideration for cultural factors and socioeconomic barriers.
• Case Studies
  • 2 year old referred for significant language delays
    • Result of severe acid reflux
  • 2 week old healthy, full term referred after a grade 2 bleed
    • Treated with a VP shunt      
    • Transition from nutritive suck to soft purees and semisolids after 9 months
  • 5 year-old with autism and Digeorges anomaly
    • Tube fed from 3 months, post-cardiac surgery
    • Non-verbal to verbal
      • Significant underlying GI issues had to be addressed before PO trials
      • Communication with family and physicians establishing realistic therapy goals
  • Case Studies from Audience