Swallowing Related Problems of Toddlers with Down Syndrome.
Screen every toddler with Down syndrome for chewing, drooling, and coughing issues using the PEDI-EAT-10 and ask caregivers to complete the T-FS-IS to quantify impact.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Serel Arslan (2022) watched the toddlers with Down syndrome eat and drink.
Twenty typically-developing kids served as the comparison group.
Parents filled out two short checklists: the PEDI-EAT-10 for swallowing issues and the T-FS-IS for daily hassle.
What they found
Nine out of ten Down-syndrome toddlers had trouble swallowing.
They choked, drooled, or took forever to finish meals.
Their parents scored triple the stress of typical parents.
How this fits with other research
Pichardo et al. (2026) show parents can track feeding problems almost as well as trained staff.
That backs Selen’s choice to use parent forms instead of clinic tests.
López-Zamora et al. (2025) found dyslexia also doubles parent stress, proving the burden is not unique to feeding issues.
Weng et al. (2011) add that fewer than one in ten disabled preschoolers ever get simple fluoride varnish, so swallowing risks stay hidden until they snowball.
Why it matters
You now have a two-minute screen for every new Down-syndrome intake.
Hand the PEDI-EAT-10 to spot silent aspiration early.
Add the T-FS-IS so you can justify feeding therapy to insurance and rally the family for support.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Print the free PEDI-EAT-10, give it to the parent while you set up the session, and score it before play begins.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The study was aimed to define swallowing related problems of toddlers with Down syndrome (DS) by comparing toddlers with typically developing children (TDC). A total of 127 children (96 DS, 31 TDC), and their mothers included in the study. The presence of chewing disorders, food selectivity, drooling, coughing during swallowing was scored as 'absent' or 'present'. The Pediatric version of the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (PEDI EAT-10) was used to determine dysphagia symptom severity, and the Turkish version of the Feeding/Swallowing Impact Survey (T-FS-IS) was used to measure the impact of swallowing disorders on caregivers. Mothers of DS reported higher rates of chewing disorders (n = 39, 40.6%), drooling (n = 30, 31.3%) and coughing during swallowing (n = 50, 41.7%) than mothers of TDC (p < 0.01). The mean PEDI-EAT-10 score of children with DS was higher than TDC (p = 0.006). There were significant differences between groups in terms of T-FS-IS. Moderate to strong correlations were detected between PEDI-EAT-10 and total and subscale scores from T-FS-IS (p < 0.001). This prospective study defines swallowing related problems of toddlers with DS. The study results highlight the importance of early investigation of (i) swallowing concerns in children with DS, and (ii) caregivers' quality of life to define swallowing problems and plan an appropriate swallowing related management program.
Journal of developmental and physical disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2007.12.001