Title

Utilizing Kinesiology Taping within the NICU to Promote Oral Feeding Readiness in Preterm Infants with Oral Motor Dysfunction

Authors

Kaylee B. O'Brien, Fontbonne University

Faculty Advisor

Amanda Eaton

Files

Description

According to the World Health Organization, approximately 15 million babies are born prematurely every year, which greatly increases the risk for feeding difficulties amongst babies being cared for in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Preterm infants often experience prolonged stays in a NICU as medical professionals provide lifesaving and life-sustaining care. Amongst those medical professionals, is a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) who is the expert in infant feeding. One of the many roles of a NICU SLP is to improve an infant’s oral motor control. In doing so, the SLP will look at ways in which they can increase functional strength and movement control of the lips, cheek, jaw, and tongue.

One way in ensuring this is through the application of Kinesiology Taping, also known as K-Tape (Gonzalez, 2021). However, there is limited research to support the efficacy of NICU SLPs utilizing K-Tape on infants. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to gain perspectives from NICU SLPs regarding their opinions, concerns, and thoughts about the effectiveness of implementing K-Tape as a treatment technique to promote safe and successful feeds.

Keywords

Premature Birth, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, SLP, K-Tape, Kinesiology Taping

Disciplines

Communication Sciences and Disorders | Speech and Hearing Science | Speech Pathology and Audiology

Presentation Type

Poster Presentation

College

College of Education and Allied Health

Department

Communication Disorders and Deaf Education

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Program

Speech-Language Pathology

Publication Date

Spring 2022

Publisher

Fontbonne University Archives

City

St. Louis, MO

Recommended Citation

O'Brien, Kaylee B., "Utilizing Kinesiology Taping within the NICU to Promote Oral Feeding Readiness in Preterm Infants with Oral Motor Dysfunction" (2022). 2022 SLP Posters. 3.
https://griffinshare.fontbonne.edu/slp-posters-2022/3

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.