Characteristics of Oral Movements during Meals in Young Children with Autism Accompanied by Developmental Delay

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience eating problems, including selective eating, clumsiness, and leaving the table during meals as well as difficulty in mastication. This study aimed to determine the lip, tongue, and jaw movements of young children with ASD. Oral function was assessed from the video recordings of 25 children with ASD and 24 children with typical development (TD) during meals. An assessment checklist of oral function was established based on previous studies and other reference materials. The checklist was used as an evaluation standard after verifying the interrater reliability. The Mann–Whitney U test was employed for between-group comparisons. Lip closure during mastication was more immature in the ASD group than in the TD group. Lip closure during food ingestion and tongue and jaw movements exhibited no significant differences between the groups, although many children in the ASD group displayed an immature development level in these measures. The results indicate that dietary support for young children with ASD must take immature oral function into account when selecting foods and identifying suitable meal forms.