OBJECTIVE: To describe the speech therapy process for the reintroduction of oral feeding after tracheotomy in a pediatric patient with facial burn. CASE REPORT: AL, a 13-year-old patient, had extensive cicatrices on the face and limbs because of a burn suffered at home in 2004. The patient developed respiratory failure and was hospitalized. He later underwent arytenoidectomy and tracheotomy (TQT). In the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU), the otolaryngology team requested speech evaluation for the evaluating his swallowing. The patient showed adequate mobility of the lips and tongue, restricted mobility of the cheeks because of the cicatrices from the burn, and adequate intraoral and extra oral sensitivity. The patient did not swallowing saliva, but instead ejected it through the anterior region of the oral cavity. The patient performed speech therapy with indirect exercises of swallowing, my functional exercises, and practiced saliva swallowing. On achieving the objectives outlined, the saliva was colored with blue dye to evaluate the safety and efficiency of swallowing. There were no observable signs suggestive of tracheal aspiration. A swallowing evaluation was then performed with liquid and pasty food by using colored dye and blue dye. The patient had appropriate oral and pharyngeal phases and was allowed to consume pasty food and liquids. After the fifth day of intervention, he was discharged, feeding exclusively by mouth foods with pasty, semisolid and liquid consistencies. He returned for follow-up assessments. CONCLUSION: The speech therapist is a trained professional who can work on a reintroduction of oral feeding that is safe, efficient, and enjoyable for the patient.
