Ming from Agents of Speech explains why sensory input comes before motor control in feeding and speech. Without proper sensation in the mouth, a child can't sense tongue position, which breaks down chewing, swallowing, and speech clarity. A dentist's numbing shot shows this perfectly: numbness leads to drooling and slurred words.
Oral motor problems are a huge part of eating or feeding or swallowing. If a child cannot sense sensory issues, if they cannot sense it properly, meaning it might be too much or not enough sensory input, then what's going to happen is that you cannot really chew nicely, or you cannot control the food inside of your mouth nicely. So imagine you going to a dentist, and then you get the painkillers, and it makes you numb all over everything here around the mouth. You start drooling, you start to not able to speak clearly because you can't sense it. Therefore, your muscles don't know where to go, especially your tongue. And when you eat, it's very easy to mismanage the food and have it go outside of your mouth. And that's the same for children who have a sensory problem, and therefore they cannot execute the motor motor patterns necessary for eating.
