ACQ Vol 11 No 1 2009

MULTICULTURALISM AND DYSPHAGIA

5 Queensland Health Child & Youth fact sheets – introducing solids These fact sheets have easy-to-understand information for parents regarding feeding. There are separate fact sheets for 6-, 8-, 9-, 12-month-old children and these are available online: http://www.health.qld.gov.au/ child&youth/factsheets/ 6 Reinforcement games for chewing practice When working on biting and chewing skills, standard reinforcement games that involve turn-taking are a must. Games such as “Pop Up Pirate”, “Honey Bee Tree” or “Animal Buddies” are all great.

7 Australian Breastfeeding Association website When working with breastfeeding mums and their babies, the ABA website has a lot of information on all areas related to breastfeeding: http://www.breastfeeding. asn.au/ 8 Range of foods While we ask parents to bring foods into the clinic, a store of foods on hand is always helpful. Jars of different textured foods, biscuits, fruit bars, etc., are a good place to start. 9 Tongue tie My experience is that tongue tie can have a significant effect not only on breast and bottle feeding success but also on chewing and, in severe cases, initiating the swallow with lumpy foods. For young babies I use the Assessment of Lingual Frenulum and for older children I use the Tongue Tie Assessment Protocol by Carmen Fernando. Both assessments, when combined with clinical reasoning, help to give an objective measure of whether a tongue tie release is warranted.

10 Access to a paediatric dietitian Hard to come by in many settings but invaluable! When working with children with compromised oral intake or with food intolerances or allergies, you can’t beat having access to a paediatric dietitian. References Fernando, Carmen. (1998). Tongue tie: From confusion to clarity . Concord, NSW: Tandem Publications. Hazelbaker, A.K. (1993). The assessment tool for lingual frenulum function (ATLFF): Use in A lactation consultant private practice . Pasadena, CA: Pacific Oaks College.

ACQ uiring knowledge in sp eech , language and hearing , Volume 11, Number 1 2009

55