Clinical Indicators of Impaired Swallowing in Children with Neurological Disorders.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the clinical indicators of the nursing diagnosis impaired swallowing in children with neurological disorders.

METHODS

An integrative review was performed on the Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Lilacs and Cinahl databases; by crossing the terms impaired degluition, dyphagia, deglutition disorders, cerebral palsy, microcephaly, which resulted in 45 articles.

RESULTS

Eighteen indicators were identified in the oral phase, ten in the pharyngeal phase, and nine in the esophageal phase. There was a percentage of 80.4% of the indicators cited in NANDA-International, especially those referring to the oral phase.

CONCLUSIONS

There are clinical indicators in both phases of impaired swallowing in children with neurological dysfunctions presenting heterogeneous distribution.