The Reliability and Validity of Family Report Chewing Evaluation

Chewing is a function that is defined as the grinding of solid food and making them ready for swallowing. Chewing begins with the acceptance of solid food with the lips. The rotational and lateral movements of the tongue is also necessary during grinding the solid food in the molar region. In the molar region, grinding is carried out with the help of salivary and salivary enzymes. Chewing behavior is a learned function. The child begins to chew at 6 months and the coordinated movement to the 9th month continues to develop. Together with experience, chewing activity continues to develop. The families have a primary role in chewing training. In some children, the chewing function does not develop as desired. Many children with developmental, medical, or oral motor problems have difficulty in grinding and swallowing solid foods. Therefore, it is very important to assess the ability of the child's chewing and determine the treatment goals. Assessment of the child's ability to chew should begin by considering chewing as a function. For this reason, the Karaduman Chewing Performance Scale (KCPS) was developed at the Hacettepe University, Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation. The chewing performance of the child during chewing a biscuit is scored by the therapist between 0-4. 0 refers to normal chewing, 4 means no bite and chew. The family has a primary prescription in the identification of the chewing disorder in children to plan appropriate rehabilitation program and implementation of the training. Therefore, it is very important to investigate the validity and reliability of classification systems that can be applied by parents. The purpose of this study is to determine the validity and reliability of the reliability and validity of family report chewing evaluation (Karaduman Chewing Performance Scale-Family report).