Pediatric Feeding Therapy

Pediatric feeding disorder (PFD) is defined as "impaired oral intake that is not age-appropriate." Occupational Therapists and Speech-Language Pathologists are the professionals responsible for addressing feeding difficulties that can be associated with medical, nutritional, feeding skill, and/or psychosocial dysfunction."

Goday et al., (2019)

"Conservative evaluations estimate that PFD affects more than 1 in 37 children under the age of 5 in the United States each year. For these infants and children, every bite of food can be painful, scary, or impossible, potentially impeding nutrition, development, growth, and overall well-being.”

feedingmatters.org (2023)

OTs are trained to specifically address sensory processing and oral motor feeding deficits, which may include difficulties with:

Tolerance to sight/smell/taste of food

Volume intake

Food variety acceptance

Food texture acceptance

Accepting only certain colors, textures, or tastes (i.e. salty/sweet) of foods

Managing a variety of foods in the mouth

Oral habits, such as stuffing, spitting out or holding food in mouth

Eating from utensils

Drinking from a cup/straw

Chewing difficulties

SLPs are specifically trained to address swallowing disorders, also called dysphagia, as well as oral motor skills. Dysphagia or oral motor deficits may include difficulties with:

Taking food by mouth due to complex medical needs (i.e. requiring tube feeds)

Volume intake

Food refusals

Breathing while eating

Managing a variety of textures (i.e., hard and soft foods)

Coughing, choking, or gagging during feeding

Eating from utensils

Drinking from a cup/straw

Chewing difficulties

There can be an overlap between feeding therapy intervention provided by an OT and SLP. However, many caregivers—and even other healthcare providers— are unaware of how the two differ and why one discipline may be more appropriate than the other. Interested in learning how we plan to combat the problem of incorrect provider referrals? Click below to hear about our multidisciplinary feeding evaluations!