Assessment and Rehabilitation Intervention of Feeding and Swallowing Skills in Children with Down Syndrome Using the Global Intensive Feeding Therapy (GIFT)

Background: Children with Down syndrome (DS) experience more difficulties with oral motor skills, including chewing, drinking, and swallowing. The present study attempts to measure the preliminary effectiveness of Global Intensive Feeding Therapy (GIFT) in DS. GIFT is a new rehabilitation program addressing the specific difficulties and needs of each child, focusing on sensory and motor oral abilities. It follows an intensive schedule comprising 15 sessions over 5 consecutive days, with 3 sessions per day. The principles of GIFT are applied with specific objectives for DS. Methods: GIFT was preliminarily implemented among 20 children diagnosed with DS. To measure the efficacy of GIFT, the Karaduman Chewing Performance Scale (KCPS), the International Dysphagia Diet Standardization Initiative (IDDSI), and the Pediatric Screening-Priority Evaluation Dysphagia (PS-PED) were used. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test before (T0) and after intervention (T1) and at one-month follow-up (T2). The effect size was also measured for specific outcomes, using Kendall's W. Results: Our findings revealed that children with DS showed no risk of dysphagia according to the PS-PED (mean score 2.80). Furthermore, statistically significant improvements in chewing performance were observed, as measured by the KCPS (p < 0.01), as well as in texture acceptance and modification, as measured by the IDDSI post-intervention (p < 0.01). For both the KCPS and IDDSI, a large effect size was found (Kendall's W value > 0.8). Parents/caregivers continued using GIFT at home, and this allowed for a positive outcome at the one-month follow-up. Conclusions: GIFT proved to be effective in the rehabilitation of feeding and swallowing disorders in children with DS, as well as for food acceptance.