Pediatric Feeding Program

If you believe your child may have a feeding disorder, Good Shepherd’s Pediatric Feeding Program can help.

The Good Shepherd Pediatric Feeding Program offers comprehensive evaluation and treatment of your child’s feeding skills, relating to sensory concerns, fine motor skills, positioning and behavioral components. Our interdisciplinary team works with you to develop goals for your child’s feeding behavior. Our primary goal is to establish feeding patterns which can be maintained by the caregiver in the home.

Characteristics of a feeding disorder:

  • Aversion to food textures
  • Difficulty advancing to age-appropriate food textures
  • Difficulty transitioning from bottle to cup
  • Difficulty weaning from a gastric feeding tube (G-tube)
  • Dysphagia (trouble swallowing)
  • Failure to thrive
  • Food refusal (sensory or behavioral)
  • Gagging, coughing or choking
  • Poor mastication or pocketing of food
  • Reflux

Steps to take prior to evaluation:

  • A referral or prescription is required from your child’s pediatrician or other medical care provider.
  • The prescription should read, “Feeding, evaluation and treatment with speech therapy and occupational therapy.”
  • You (parent or guardian) will receive a feeding questionnaire prior to the appointment. Please complete the questionnaire and bring it to your child’s evaluation.

The Evaluation Process:

  • Your child will receive an occupational and speech therapy evaluation of functional feeding skills.
  • During the evaluation, you (parent or guardian) will be interviewed for background feeding history. At this point, the completed feeding questionnaire will be discussed.
  • Good Shepherd’s feeding team will observe your child as he or she eats various foods with or without your assistance. This will help us determine your child’s typical feeding patterns.
  • During the evaluation, our team will try various intervention strategies to determine their effectiveness.
  • At the conclusion of the session, our team will provide written recommendations and review them with you.
  • The evaluation process will last approximately 90 minutes.

Moving forward following the evaluation:

  • Return for monthly follow-up visits with occupational and speech therapists.
  • Schedule weekly individual feeding therapy with occupational and speech therapists.
  • Receive 12 weeks of weekly feeding group treatment.
  • Appropriate referrals will be made for Modified Barium Swallow studies, allergy testing, dietary consult, or other services.

For more information on the Good Shepherd’s Pediatrics Program, contact us, call 610-776-3578 or Request an Appointment.