Atuação fonoaudiológica na dificuldade alimentar em uma criança com Síndrome de Down

Abstract

The present article reports the clinical case of a child with Down Syndrome, with 23 months of age. The patient presented food difficulty characterized by refusal, alimentary preferences, changes in stomatognathic system structures regarding tonus, posture and mobility, masticatory difficulty and sensory-oral defense. Ten speech therapy sessions were held from Monday to Friday lasting 50 minutes with the main objective of improving the quality and comfort of eating, as well as promoting the acceptance of foods in greater quantity and variety. For food monitoring at home, a food diary was given to the father with questions about the foods offered, utensils, strategies, behavior, intake and duration of the meal. It was verified the clinical evolution of the patient in a therapeutic environment and the responses of eight lunch moments recorded in the diary during the period in which the speech-language and speech therapy sessions occurred and eight more after three months of the speech-language pathology sessions. In the therapeutic setting, it was observed an improvement in oral sensory-motor ability and increased acceptance and autonomy during feeding. The responses in the ML lunch time diary during the intervention, especially in the first sessions, were marked by constant refusal and low intake, but after 3 months of intervention, according to the interview with the father and the information recorded in the food diary noticed a reduction of sensorial preferences, less refusal and more intake. Therefore, it was concluded that the changes in the stomatognathic system had an impact on the alimentary development of ML and the speech-language intervention proved to be effective in the treatment of the patient's eating difficulty.