Does your child have difficult eating solid foods or drinking from a cup? Are meal times frustrating?
If your child has difficulty with transitions during feeding, there is a way to help your child interact with food in a more playful but effective way.
Feeding therapy is designed to help children improve their acceptance of new or undesired foods and improve their sensory and oral motor feeding skills. Occupational and Speech Therapists can evaluate a child’s feeding skills and implement a plan that is both fun and functional for the child and their families.
There are also specific methods used to treat feeding therapy. Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) approach is a developmental feeding therapy that helps the child explore the color, shape, texture, smell, taste and consistency of different foods (Courage Center).
Oral-motor therapy could include addressing weak musculature in and around your child’s mouth. It could also involve behavioral feeding with no oral-motor, or a combination of the two (Isa Marrs Speech Language Pathology).
Therapists at Pediatric Therapy Partners can provide information about when to be concerned with feeding skills and identify red flags. The PTP Feeding Team recognized that there are a variety of sensory, oral motor and behavior factors that impact a child’s ability to meet their nutritional needs. The team will present a seminar that will provide information about when to be concerned with feeding skills and identify red flags.
The Feeding Team describes the seminar as an opportunity to provide developmental information for oral motor skills and when textures or foods are age-appropriate for all children.
“It will provide food play ideas and how to encourage children to try and eat new foods,” explained the team.
Each course is designed to identify feeding disorders and how to improve children’s eating skills. The first course explains the definition, red flags, 10 common myths about feeding, normal oral motor and feeding development, and causes of feeding disorders. The team will also explain feeding techniques to assist children in increasing volume and variety of foods.
The second course will be a review of what feeding disorders are and will focus on how to present new foods along with preferred foods to increase attempts at eating. The tea will also provide a hands-on creative play and interactive course with varieties of food to encourage children with feeding deficits to explore, play and eat new foods.
Feeding Disorders are often confused with children being labeled as “picky eaters.”
The Pediatric Therapy Partners Feeding Team recognizes
that there are a variety of sensory, oral motor, and behavior factors that impact a child’s ability to meet their nutritional needs. This seminar is split into two nights and will help identify feeding difficulties and supply strategies to help children improve their eating skills.
Attendance to both seminars is required to receive CEU credit.
Both sessions will be held from 6:30pm-8:00pm.
at Pediatric Therapy Partners, 3060 Frontier Way S., Fargo, ND.
PART 1: Feeding Disorders 1: Identifying Red Flags and Understanding Feeding Disorders in Children: Thursday, January 31, 2013
PART 2: Feeding Disorders 2: Hands-On and Interactive Feeding Strategies for Home and the Community: Thursday, February 28, 2013
Please call or email today to RSVP as spots are limited at 701-232-2340 or info@pediatrictherapypartners.com
RESOURCES:
Toomey, Kay PhD (2002). Picky Eaters vs. Problem Feeders: The SOS Approach to Feeding: Education Resources, Inc.
Rosenfeld-Johnson, Sara. (2001). Oral-Motor Exercises for Speech Clarity: Talk Tools, USA.
Rosenfeld-Johnson, Sara. (2000). Assessment and Treatment of the Jaw: Putting it all together: Sensory, Feeding and Speech. Talk Tools, USA.
Zimmerman, Ben. (2001). Pediatric Feeding Seminar: A Behavioral Approach (Intermediate). Los Altos Feeding Clinic, Los Altos, CA.
PTP Feeding Team:
· Tiffany Voigt, SLP
· Rachel Olson, SLP
· Sharon Drewlo, OT
