INTRODUCTION: changes in the stomatognathic system can bring risks of mortality from birth, so that health professionals turn their attention to children with dysphagia and accidents with foreign body aspiration in the airways, which can be caused by objects or food. In our area there was an increase in scientific production in the period 2000 to 2005. However, oral motor, which features productions on swallowing disorders and food, was the penultimate issue researched. The incentive to scientific causes increase in the number of jobs and concern about the quality of publications and, therefore, with methodological aspects. OBJECTIVE: To describe the techniques of data collection in publications about swallowing and feeding disorders in children. METHODS: we carried out a survey of available literature from online search in the databases SciELO, and Lilacs in the area of health sciences, published in the period 2000 to 2011. RESULTS: 47 articles were analyzed, which showed seven different techniques of data collection, with a predominance of research papers (33%) and clinical examination (31%), as well as studies with a combination of two different techniques (42.55%) CONCLUSION: The number of publications on the subject is scarce and could be increased using a larger number of techniques for data collection combined.