Perspectives on Device-Facilitated Therapy in Management of Pediatric Dysphagia in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Purpose: Most infants born preterm will experience some difficulty with sucking and feeding. As clinicians in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), it is important to understand the available technologies so that they may be implemented, when appropriate and accessible, to support these infants in their sucking and feeding performance. The purpose of this review is to highlight devices that are available to assist clinicians in the management of pediatric dysphagia in the NICU. We will review the literature surrounding the use of devices in the management of pediatric dysphagia. This is followed by a clinical perspective from a NICU speech-language pathologist (SLP) who shares important considerations, recommendations, and limitations of device use. Conclusions: By reviewing device-facilitated therapies for the management of pediatric dysphagia and discussing their implementation and effectiveness, we hope that SLPs will gain an understanding of the available technologies and insight into their use in the NICU environment. While the research highlighted shows many benefits of the use of device-facilitated therapies in the NICU, this is an emerging area of the field that is continually evolving and more research is needed to establish the pathway to individualized, developmentally supportive, device-facilitated intervention.