How do I know if my child may benefit from feeding therapy?     

• Aversion, avoidance, and/or refusal of food textures or entire food groups

• Coughing, gagging, and/or vomiting during or around eating or drinking

• Self-limiting (<20 foods) or restrictive diets

• Dropping foods from diet that your child previously ate and not bringing it back

• Difficulty biting, chewing, or managing food in his/her mouth

• Difficulty drinking from cup

• Difficulty transitioning between developmental stages of eating

• Ongoing weight loss or poor weight gain with growth

• History of eating and breathing coordination problems 

• Delayed exposure to foods and textures

• Difficulty using utensils and manipulating food/packaging in hands

• Eats fewer foods over time and may end up with less than 8-10 foods

• Avoids sitting at table, participating in meals, eats separately or leaves room

• Difficult for everyone to feed or cries, yells, avoids, or tantrums around meals

• Rigidity and inflexibility related to meal routine or foods specifically

• Medical diagnoses (gastric reflux, motility disorders, failure to thrive,

• Gastronomy (G-tube) or naso-gastric tube (NG tube) dependence 

• Anatomical or structural issues with jaw, palate, etc.

What can I expect from Aspire Pediatric Therapy’s Feeding Program?

• An in-depth comprehensive, interdisciplinary feeding & eating evaluation will be completed by an experienced occupational and speech-language pathologist, including observation of eating and an extensive feeding and medical history.  If the safety of your child’s swallow is of concern, your child may be referred for a swallow study if a study has not previously been completed.

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• With parent goals in mind, an individualized treatment plan will be developed to address your child’s specific needs. Families are an integral part of the therapy team.

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• Skilled therapy interventions will be provided using a variety of foods at each therapy session to help your child overcome barriers to independence. The focus is on your child’s skill development and self-confidence for long term functional feeding & eating success.   

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• Ongoing child & family education and coaching to enhance carryover and transition of skills to meal times at home and in the community.