Feeding Therapy
What is Feeding Therapy?
Feeding therapy is designed to help children who experience a range of feeding challenges, including picky eating, food aversions, sensory processing issues, and oral motor difficulties.
We utilize the SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to Feeding which is designed to help children develop healthy eating habits and improve their sensory processing related to food. This approach emphasizes a gradual introduction to different textures, tastes, and smells, allowing children to explore and interact with food at their own pace. Through play and positive experiences, the SOS method aims to reduce anxiety around eating, enhance oral motor skills, and foster a positive relationship with food, ultimately promoting a more varied and balanced diet.
SOS Approach to Feeding
It can be hard to know the difference between a “picky eater” and a problem feeder. Sometime being picky is a phase as children develop tastes, preferences and autonomy. The SOS Approach to Feeding was designed to help children who require support to learn how to eat a more varied diet.
When feeding becomes a problem, our team is here to support children and families using the SOS approach.
We offer trandisciplinary feeding assessments, individual services and small groups for feeding.
Small Groups
Please refer to our Group Sessions page to find more information on small groups for feeding. All children requiring feeding services require an initial assessment. The therapist may recommend individual or small group services depending on several factors including severity of problem and availability of a compatible peer group within the timeframe that services are desired.
Individual Services
We offer tailored treatment strategies for each child. During treatment sessions food sights, sounds, textures and tastes are explored with a play-based approached. Through a systematic desensitization approach, children are eased into accepting foods along a tolerance hierarchy. The SOS Approach to Feeding guides the child toward a broader range of food tolerances and aims to make meal time more enjoyable for the entire family.
Feeding Evaluation
A feeding evaluation includes questionnaires for parents to fill out as well as parent interview; which would provide the evaluating therapist necessary information regarding medical history, environmental factors, developmental milestones, and sensory processing. In addition, the client will be asked to eat a preferred food, so information regarding the physiological state, as well as ability levels for motor/posture, oral motor, cognitive and sensory skills may be gathered.