FEEDING THERAPY
Savoring a good meal is not only life-sustaining, but can also bring us enjoyment, nourishment, and closeness with those that we love. It’s easy to take this seemingly simple pleasure and basic life function for granted, but people of all ages may experience difficulties with feeding.
Feeding concerns may stem from a wide variety of root causes, such as sensory processing difficulties, food aversions, attention-related reasons, behavioral habits, long-standing health conditions or acute events, and physiological difficulties with the processes of chewing and swallowing. Clients may work with a speech therapist or an occupational therapist for feeding therapy depending on the specific concerns, and having a team of therapists in both disciplines at our office allows us to more fully explore and effectively address a variety of underlying reasons for the difficulties our clients may be experiencing.
Our services include helping clients with:
Developmental milestones (self-feeding, using utensils, etc)
Preventing aspiration
Sensory aversion
Chewing skills
Cup/straw drinking
Tube weaning
Swallowing strategies
Selective eating
Nutritional needs
A typical pediatric feeding evaluation will include eating and drinking, so we ask caregivers to bring along one preferred and one non-preferred food, and a cup the child is accustomed to drinking from. Please let us know if you or your loved ones have been experiencing any coughing or choking while eating or drinking, as we may need to refer you for a specialized swallowing test (MBS) at your preferred local hospital to evaluate this before beginning services. We do require an MBS, FEES, or other diagnostic imaging test for all adult swallowing patients prior to scheduling an initial evaluation with us.
