Pediatric Dysphagia

Kim, Min Young

Abstract

Pediatric dysphagia comes from disturbances in swallowing process, which has 'preparatory phase', 'oral phase', 'pharyngeal phase', and 'esophageal phase', and mainly the causes are neuro-muscular discoordination. It is necessary to recognize clinical manifestation if they have accompanied organic disorder and diagnose accurately. Videofluoroscopic study evaluation is a valuable method to find out abnormal swallowing mechanism at each phases. Treatment should be diagnosis specific, and multidisciplinary team approach is desirable. We can use various behavioral techniques to facilitate normal swallowing mechanism including conditioning of oral and pharyngeal structures, bolus manipulation, postural compensation, and adaptive feeding utensils. Important point is that the diagnosis and treatment for pediatric dysphagia should not be delayed because children are under development.