Pediatric Feeding Therapy
Nutrition during infancy and early childhood is essential to ensure the growth, health, and development of children to their full potential.
Feeding therapy is used to help infants and children who have difficulties sucking, chewing, feeding, and swallowing or have a limited diet with very few varieties of foods. The earlier a child is in therapy to address these problems the better their growth, nutrition and future eating outcomes. A speech language pathologist (SLP) and/or occupational therapist (OT) is the trained medical professional that provides feeding and swallowing therapy. The goal of feeding therapy is to help children develop normal, effective feeding patterns and behaviors, and to make meal times fun for the whole family again!
Feeding Therapy at Sprouts Therapy
- Sprouts Therapy utilizes both the the SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) approach and the AEIOU (acceptance, exposure, independence, observation and understanding) approach to feeding. Learn more about these feeding programs here:
- SOS Approach to Feeding
- AEIOU Integrated Approach to Feeding
Our team focuses on helping children to explore new and diverse foods by engaging in creative play and conversation, ultimately easing the tension often associated with mealtime.
Common Conditions We Support
- Pediatric Feeding Disorder
- Autism
- Feeding Difficulties
- Sensory Processing Disorder
- Dysphagia
- Oral Motor Delay
Does my child need feeding therapy?
If you are a parent concerned about your child’s food selectivity, food or texture refusal, mealtime tantrums, reduced food or liquid intake, or swallowing, your child may benefit from feeding therapy.
Preparing for the Evaluation
We will need all intake forms completed and a video sent to us at least one week before the child's evaluation:
A home video of typical mealtime is needed for the evaluation. The following video elements are ideal:
- A front-facing view of your child's oral motor/mouth movements
- View of child using his/her hands and/or utensils
- View of seating set-up
- Approximately 4 - 7 minutes long
- Video can be emailed to us, shared via a cloud storage service (i.e. Dropbox, Google Drive.), shared via a YouTube link, or shared via a flash drive dropped off at the clinic.
The Evaluation Process
Evaluation Set-Up
We want to evaluate your child’s current skill level with foods that they do well with and more challenging foods. If your child is scheduled for a feeding therapy evaluation, please prepare:
- At least 2-3 foods of different textures
- 1 beverage that your child will most likely drink
- At least 1-2 food(s) your child will most likely refuse
- Preferred utensils, cup, bottles, and dishes.
Assessment Details
The Feeding Therapy Evaluation will include a 1.5 hour evaluation/parent consultation. A pediatric feeding evaluation typically includes assessment of: oral motor skills, feeding skills, postural skills, and sensory processing skills. An occupational therapist and/or a speech therapist are part of the evaluation process.
The Report
You will receive a detailed evaluation report and plan of care approximately 4 weeks after the assessment via our HIPAA compliant software system (Therabill), within your personal client portal. If you have any questions after reviewing the evaluation report, we can set up a complimentary phone consultation with you and the evaluating therapist.
The Scheduling Process
Feeding Therapy is currently offered in-clinic and via teletherapy
If the evaluating therapist has determined your child would benefit from therapy treatment, you may begin scheduling sessions immediately after the evaluation, while waiting for the full report. If there are no ongoing appointments available during your availability window, your child will be added to the waitlist.
If your therapist is unavailable for a regularly scheduled session, we will attempt to provide a replacement therapist for the session. Each of your child's therapists are able to view daily notes from previous sessions to ensure continuity of care.
Feeding Therapy (Food School)
Creating the Grocery List
Your therapist will work with you to determine a food hierarchy based on your child’s skill level using foods you typically have at home, foods you would like to incorporate into sessions, and may request that you purchase a few additional food items to use during feeding therapy sessions at home.
Hunger Level for Sessions
The focus of our feeding program is to build oral motor skills and increase your child’s comfort and trust with foods, rather than focusing on intake, so your child does not need to be hungry prior to the session. It is ok to provide a snack prior to sessions; however, your child should come ready to engage with foods and should not be completely full either.
A Typical Feeding Session
Parent/caregiver involvement is required and participation is encouraged during feeding therapy sessions. Each Food School session may start with a motor warm-up, bubbles and/or water play prior to the introduction of foods. Foods will be introduced one at a time. Using role modeling and the Steps to Eating Hierarchy, you, your child, and the therapist will engage in play with the foods. At the end of the session, you will engage in a clean-up routine that will help your child know what to expect; once they know the routine, having the clear ending helps to keep them in their chair and actively participating for the duration of the session.
Session and Treatment Length
The length of individual feeding therapy sessions ranges from 1-1.5 hours and will be tailored to your child’s individual needs. Each feeding therapy cycle lasts for 13 sessions at a rate of one session per week.
During the 13th session, your therapist will take time to review your child’s progress report with you, including updates to goals, progress seen during the feeding therapy cycle, and recommendations for continued therapy.
Parent Homework
You will be provided with handouts and training videos by email when your child starts feeding therapy, along with a schedule of what to review each week. Your therapist may also talk with you about starting therapy meals at home once you are used to the routine of Food School. For Food School to be truly effective it is imperative to carry over skills taught during food school in order to generalize and increase tolerance of a variety of foods.
New client?
QUICK LINKS
SERVICES
RESOURCES