Abstract
With an occupational therapist, the author provided joint therapy for a boy with severe cerebral palsy who also had difficulty eating comfortably because of a tonic bite reflex with an overall increase in body extension. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of joint therapy by comparing it with therapy carried out only by a speech therapist. The results were as follows. (1) During the course of twelve sessions, the tonic bite was gradually reduced. (2) Even within a single session, where therapy by a speech therapist was followed by joint therapy, the tonic bite reflex abated and the tonic bite with an overall body extension decreased. (3) The joint therapy also positively effected the next session of single therapy. (4) It seems that the better alignment of the patient's head attained in joint therapy served to reduce the tonic bite reflex.
