Jaw Movements in Chewing

Jaw control is one of the skills needed for efficient chewing. Let's look at how the jaw helps in chewing and what can be done to help your child develop better jaw control.

Try It!
To fully understand how the jaw works in chewing, try feeling it yourself, or watch a friend. Bite through a piece of apple, a hard cookie, or a hard piece of bread. Notice how your jaw helps with biting through the food, then moves to grind the food into pieces that arc small enough to swallow. Feel how the tongue, lips, and jaw all work together.

Why Is the Jaw an Important Part of Chewing?
The jaw is necessary from the very moment food is presented. It is the jaw that opens up the mouth to accept the food. The jaw needs to be able to open as much as is necessary to take in the food, and close with enough control that the teeth may hold the food while you take a bite. The jaw also should be able to bite, in a controlled fashion, through a variety of different food textures-from soft bananas to cookies to hard apples, bagels, or meat.

Once the food is in the mouth, the jaw and teeth are the power behind chewing. The jaw moves up and down diagonally and in a circular motion to grind the food and help the tongue move it in the mouth. It will crush and break up some foods and grind others as needed to prepare the food for swallowing.

How Can I Help?
Some children have trouble using their jaws effectively for chewing. Muscle weakness or tightness can make jaw control difficult. Biting and chewing then are done without good control, limiting tlie types of foods that can be eaten.

If you think your child may have trouble with jaw control, contact your child's doctor for a referral to a feeding therapist. The feeding therapist can determine what jaw skills your child does have and where more training and help are necessary. This professional will look at jaw skills and all the other skills necessary for your child to chew.

Chin Support
To improve control, your feeding therapist may recommend that you hold your child's jaw during chewing. Cupping your child's chin or giving chin support with fingers may be all that is needed for better chewing skills. Some frequently used methods to provide chin support are shown below. Your feeding specialist will guide you in learning these jaw support methods. The support you choc... will depend on your comfort and the amount of heir your child needs.

Chin Cupping	Chin support two fingers	Chin support L finger, thumb

Oral Play
Help your child bite on different toys and textures or hold different objects in the mouth. Some objects require hard biting, and others require softer biting or holding. Some older children like to hold and pull on rubber tubing. Theralubing comes in different strengths, from easy-to-pull to hard-to-pull.
Bite-Through Games

Encourage your child to bite through different foods. The jaw control needed to bite through different foods is very important for learning controlled movements for chewing.

"Bite-through" foods can include soft foods such as bananas, canned pears, macaroni, breads, and well-cooked vegetables or fruits. They also can include foods that break off easily in your child's mouth, such as crackers and cookies. More challenging foods include apples, dried fruits, and meats, even jerky. Be careful to give foods that won't cause choking or gagging once they are in your child's mouth.

Gauze Bite-Chew Method
Put strips of food in a piece of gauze and hold over the child's side teeth to encourage chewing. The food pieces can be juicy (such as an orange or a papaya slice), which will give a squirt as your child bites. Harder foods also can be used (such as apple pieces, hard cookies, or string cheese). These foods arc crunchy during the bite and can be heard as well as chewed.

When foods are placed over the teeth like this, you can control exactly where the chewing is done and help the tongue and jaw practice control. Because the food is wrapped in a piece of gauze, it can't drop back to the tongue center but stays over the teeth where the chewing should be taking place.

Teamwork
You can't work on jaw control without working on other skills that influence the jaw. The activities you do to help your child move the jaw in chewing will be only a part of the whole program of activities your feeding therapist will recommend to improve chewing.

When your child can chew better, the variety of foods that can be eaten increases and your child's nutrition may improve. Remember, any feeding difficulties can result in nutritional deficiencies. An assessment by a dietitian may be necessary.

Talk with the feeding therapist, a dietitian, and your child's developmental team. Together you can work on improving your child's eating skills while maximizing nutrition.

Resources
Theratubing is available through Best Priced Products, P.O. Box 1174, White Plains, NY 10602, (800) 824-2939.

Reference
Morris, S. E, and M. D. Klein. 1987. Pre-feeding skills. Tucson, AZ: Therapy Skill Builders.