 | Gentry White is the owner and lead therapist for Southeast Kansas Speech Pathology Services in Pittsburg Kansas. She received her Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in 1998 and her Master of Arts in Audiology and Speech Sciences degree from Michigan State University in 2001. She has been practicing Speech-Language Pathology in southeast Kansas since moving to Pittsburg in 2001. Gentry resides in the Pittsburg area with her husband and children. She can be contacted through her website www.sekspeech.com or her office phone at 620-232-2990. |
Health & Rehabilitation
2012-06-01 09:38:01
Feeding therapy
Q: What is feeding therapy?
A: All kids move through a specific set of skills that allow them to complete tasks independently as they grow and mature. In-order-to explain disordered feeding, one has to understand sequential feeding for a typically developing child. For the first six months of life, most babies are exclusively breast or bottle fed. Following this period, first foods are then introduced as baby is able to tolerate these pureed foods then thickness and lumps are added as the baby matures physically as well as cognitively. By the time the baby is 12-15 months old he/she is eating modified table foods with the rest of the family. The baby’s feeding development mimics growth development, for example, as he/she is able to hold up his/her head; the suck-swallow pattern changes to integrate these systems to reduce the time it takes to feed. Eating requires that all eight sensory systems (olfactory, gustatory, auditory, visual, tactile, vestibular, interperception and proprioception) work together in-order-for tolerance and digestion of foods to occur. Because eating is a learned behavior, any disruption (ex. procedures during hospitalization) or pain (ex. reflux) to the system in the first few years of life may cause problems feeding. Problem feeders may have a limited or restricted variety of foods that they consume (less than 20 different foods). The child may refuse or cry when presented with “new foods.” This type of child’s food habits differ from that of the family and most often the child does not eat with the family at meals. Children who have difficulty feeding may also be reported as a “picky eater” during several well-child check-ups with their health practitioner. These children are not always “behavior” problems but may have issues with their feeding habits. A child can be obese and be malnourished at the same time. A Speech-Language Pathologist who is trained in pediatric feeding therapy can assist the child and his/her caregivers to make that progression from being a problem feeder to a healthy and active member of the family who engages during meals with the family. The goal of feeding therapy is to add foods into his/her repertoire while engaging the child’s sensory systems in a sequential and child directed order. This therapist will work on skill set, environmental modifications, diet changes as well as caregiver education for at-home carryover. We as adults need to think like the 2-year-old and remember that feeding is one of the most difficult sensory tasks that will occur in that child’s life within his/her first two years of life.
