Feeding the Disabled Child [Hardcover]

Disabled children often have feeding difficulty. Choking, food spillage and protracted mealtimes can pose enormous problems for their carers and the accompanying nutritional deficit imposes additional burdens on the affected child. The aetiology of these problems is placed in context by a detailed description of normal feeding development in infants. The often under-recognised nutritional and neurodevelopmental consequences of inadequate nutrient intake together with the respiratory complications and the important problems of constipation and drooling which may accompany oro-motor dysfunction are detailed. The clinical and nutritional assessment and the application of diagnostic imaging techniques in the evaluation of such children are described. The methods of management of these children's problems form the core of this volume and they range from oro-motor therapy to various techniques for enteral feeding. The ethical issues raised by the vigorous intervention needed to improve the nutritional state of severely disabled children is explored, together with the need to provide ongoing psychological support for their carers.1. Introduction - P. B. Sullivan and L. Rosenbloom.

2. Normal feeding behaviour - R. D. Stevenson.

3. The causes of feeding difficulties in disabled children - P. B. Sullivan and L. Rosenbloom.

4. The nutritional and neurodevelopmental consequences of feeding difficulties in disabled children - L. Rosenbloom and P. B. Sullivan.

5. The respiratory consequences of neurological deficit - Ben N. J. Shaw.

6. The therapeutic approach to the child with feeding difficulty:.

I. Assessment - L. S. Wolf.

7. Nutritional assessment of the disabled child - V. Stallings and Babette S. Zemel.

8. Diagnostic imaging in the assessment of alimentary function of the disabled child - E. Loveday.

9. Drooling - Pl