What does a feeding therapy session look like?

Jennifer Garcia, COTA/L

Ever wonder what a feeding therapy session might look like for your child? In this post we will explore what a feeding therapy session looks like and if it might be the right fit for your child.

What Does A Feeding Therapy Session Look Like?

Honest answer? We never know. But as a feeding therapist our goal is to have the child engage with food and have a positive experience while exploring the food item. It can be new foods, used to eat-foods, food they are already okay with..etc. Every child has different reasons why they struggle with food like: ability to sustain attention, trauma, picky eater, color of food, smell, texture, other sensory aversions, stress, anxiety, ability to chew and/or swallow..endless of reasons why. 

Depending on the rapport of the therapist with the child and ability of the child to explore foods, the child can build up to be comfortable exploring food with the therapist. Some are able to explore foods presented on a plate and talking about it. Some explore by helping cook the food item. Sometimes they may not take a bite of anything..but will be 100% engaged with the foods presenting by looking, touching, playing, or even licking a teeny tiny piece. If any of these steps are too hard, then taking a few steps back is totally okay. Some are not ready to interact with food at all and require other ways to be able to attend to the designated area or to be able to engage. At a comfortable rate, the therapist is integrating the child not only to feel safe around that food item but also be in a safe place while exploring that food item with no given pressure. 

For example: This kiddo in these two pictures is working on exploring pasta. How does this kiddo engage best with food? Playing. By playing with the pasta, he is learning to be comfortable enough to look, touch, smell, ask questions about it, break it, learn how pasta transforms into a different texture after being cooked, engage for ~30 min and even bring it to his mouth. All by creating train tracks for Thomas and building with dipping sauces. No he did not eat during the feeding sessions, but at home mom reported he has been eating noodles with Alfredo sauce consistently and has recently licked some with tomato sauce all by himself. 

Do all feeding sessions look like this? 

No. Every therapist has they’re own way with each individual child to progress them. Every child progresses in different ways, and different speeds. They all learn things differently, but the goal is to help in any way possible. Every child is unique just like every feeding session! 

Have more questions? Ask us!!