Hello, and welcome to Therapy Playground. I'm Ashley, and I'm Julieanne.
And we're here today to talk about feeding delays in your child.
Julieanne, can you tell us a few red flags parents should be aware of
if they have feeding concerns for their child.
Well Ashley, the big red flags parents should be aware of during feeding are choking, coughing, or gagging while eating.
These are some things that should raise big concerns,
especially if the child is doing the more than once a feeding or every feeding.
If this is happening you should talk with your
pediatrician or speech pathologist and express your concerns.
Some other things that you should look out for are your child's ability to chew foods,
your child's ability to hold foods in their mouth without it coming out, any hypersensitivities,
or low muscle tone, if there's any over-stuffing, or extreme pickiness.
Can you explain extreme pickiness? I think a lot of parents are probably thinking,
"Well, my child is picky, who's isn't?"
I think a lot of parents confuse their child's pickiness, I think a lot of kids who are picky
are picky for a reason. It's important to be aware of the foods they're eating and
the foods they're not and why they're eating the other foods.
Some kids are picky because they can't chew certain food so they may stay aware from foods
that are harder for them to chew such as meat and hard foods. They may stick with softer
foods such as pasta, mash potatoes, or apple sauce.
Those are "safe foods" and easy to chew so they know they are easy for them to eat.
They're not going to worry about eating foods that are more difficult or may get tired
of eating or trying to chew those foods so they may stay away from those foods completely.
There may also be kids that have hyper sensitivity so they may not like foods with a lot of flavor
so may stick with foods that are blander like mashed potatoes. And they may not like foods
that have a lot of texture, so gritty food, crunchy food,
they may like the smoother foods instead.
So the thing is to look out for your child's foods that he likes and doesn't like and
be aware of why they're not eating those.
Oh, that's really interesting. So if you think your child may have a feeding delay,
what are the steps we can do to fix that?
What you should do if you feel your child is having difficulty eating is consult your
pediatrician and express the concerns you are having.
Your doctor can refer you to a local speech pathologist who can conduct an evaluation
and determine if your child does need feeding therapy or not.
A Speech-Language Pathologist, I think a lot of people think that's someone who can help
my child talk, or understand what other people are saying, but what does a
Speech-Language Pathologist have to do with feeding?
Well that's pretty funny because when I first got into this profession when I was
in school, I didn't realize that a Speech-Language Pathologist dealt with feeding.
I thought it was just speaking. But if you think about it, all the muscles in your face that you
use for speaking, they're the same muscles you use for eating.
The Speech-Language Pathologist really is the ideal expert when it comes to feeding your child.
There are other professions that work as a team with the Speech-Language Pathologist to help your
child progress in eating. Some of these other professions include the ENT,
the physical therapist, occupational therapist, a nutritionist, and a GI specialist.
These are just some of the main professions that are included in
your child's feeding team.
So once you go see the Speech-Language Pathologist for an evaluation,
What happens during that evaluation?
Well, every evaluation is different, because every therapist is different and every child is different.
But one of the main things that will occur is a detailed background history.
The Speech-Language Pathologist wants to know if there's anything in your child's developmental history
or birth history that may, maybe explain why your child is having difficulties.
The Speech-Language Pathologist will also talk to the parent and
get their perspectives on the difficulties they're having.
Some other things that will occur during the evaluation is observing the child eating foods
they do like and eating foods they don't like. The speech therapist will look at the
child's ability to chew foods, contain foods in their mouth, is there any oral aversion
to touch or foods, is there hyper sensitivity observed. The therapist will look at your
child's oral motor mechanisms and see if there's any oral motor weakness or low tone.
All of these are things that the Speech-Language Pathologist will look at.
Wow, so what happens if they qualify for therapy? How long is therapy,
what should a parent of a child with feeding issues expect?
Well the parent should expect feeding therapy once a week for 30 minutes. It is VERY difficult
for a feeding therapist to conduct therapy in 30 minutes because it really does take
longer than that, but unfortunately that is all most insurances will pay.
So it's VERY important for the family to be involved. The Speech-Language Pathologist will work with
the parent and family and teach them tools for being able to help their child eat successfully.
That way, the parents can carry it over and the child is
able to eat in a safe and fun environment.
Wow Julieanne, that's a lot of great information. Unfortunately I think we can talk about feeding all day,
but we have run out of time. If you have a child you feel has a feeding delay,
we ask that you talk with your pediatrician or your Speech-Language Pathologist.
Hopefully we'll see you again soon, thank you and have a wonderful day. Bye!