Feeding Therapy
What does it mean?
Feeding and sensory difficulties can result in poor nutrition, reduced quality of life, and feelings of stress during mealtime. At Kefi our feeding specialists are ready to help you and your child expand their food repertoire, develop strategies to safely swallow and eat, and help to promote an enjoyable feeding experience for everyone involved.
Whether you’re experiencing challenges eating by mouth, have a history of reflux, are having trouble transitioning through different textures (e.g., purees to solids), need support with muscle movements, have facial anatomical differences or myofunctional disorders, we are here to help!
Therapeutic Interventions
Alexandra is trained in the SOS approach to feeding and has implemented evidence-based techniques with children and families to work on the feeding challenges they faced.
The approach focuses on increasing a child’s comfort level by exploring and learning about different properties of food. Children work with a professional to interact with food in a playful, non-stressful way which increases their comfort level by exploring and learning about the different properties of food. There are six major steps to eating that can be including:
- Being in the same space as the food / looking at it
- interacting with the food without directly touching it
- Smell the food
- Directly touching the food
- Tasting the food
- Chewing & swallowing
Other areas of feeding may include:
- Learning how to sip from a straw
- Drinking from an open cup
- Using utensils
- Sitting appropriately
- Engaging in family meals
- Behavioral feeding challenges
- Sensory feeding challenges
- And more!
