The effectiveness of the oral motor therapy to the development of chewing skill in cerebral palsied children

ABSTRACT Master of Thesis THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ORAL MOTOR THERAPY TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHEWING SKILL IN CEREBRAL PALSIED CHILDREN EVRİM KIRAN GERÇEK Anadolu University Institute of Health Science Adviser: Doç. Dr. Saime Seyhun TOPBAŞ 2004 In this study, the effect of the Oral Motor Therapy Programme on children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) is researched. The Oral Motor Therapy Programme was applied to three children with CP who have swallowing disability related to chewing skill that is effectual for eating solid foods, and then was researched its effect on development of chewing skill which consists of chewing duration, chewing cycles anda lateralization skill. In the research, the multiple probe design accross subjects, which is any of the single subject research designs was used for determing the effect of Oral Motor Therapy on development of chewing skill. The settings including multiple baseline, daily probe, teaching and following up were arranged for evaluating the effectiveness of Oral Motor Therapy Programme prapared for devoloping chewing skill. All settings were put in order according as face to face education. For evaluating the reliability of research and its results, the data of interobserver reliability and application reliability were collected. The effectiveness of the Oral Motor Therapy was determined by using graphical analysis. The discoveries of research show that within the determined criterions, the Oral Motor Therapy Programme is mostly effective on the subjects. They also show that after the and of application, chewing skill has been saved respectively at the second and third weeks by the first subject, second and third weeks by the second subject and third week by the third subject. 11