Feeding Team
The Pediatric Feeding Team is a multidisciplinary team that provides evaluation and treatment services for children with feeding and swallowing difficulties. Our team includes speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, and pediatric nutritionists, who are experts in feeding and swallowing. Onsite consultation is available with pediatric specialists in the areas of gastroenterology, behavioral psychology, radiology, and physical therapy.
Services are provided at the Pediatric Rehabilitation Center in the Spaulding Outpatient Center for Children Salem.
Pediatric Feeding Team services
The Pediatric Feeding Team offers comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic services to successfully evaluate and manage feeding and swallowing difficulties. We administer Modified Barium Swallow (MBS) Studies in coordination with our radiology physicians, and provide follow up visits and home and school programming.
During an initial evaluation, the team makes an assessment of posture and positioning, muscle tone and oral motor development, swallowing patterns, meal time behaviors, food tolerances and preferences, nutritional intake and growth, self feedings skills and sensory needs and responses. The training and recommendations our team gives to caregivers to help them effectively and safely feed their children is an essential component to the program.
Conditions treated:
- Failure to thrive
- Over-selectivity of food
- Failure to advance in textures
- Transitions from tube to oral feeding
- Total or partial food refusals
- Growth problems
- Poor nutrition
- Poor development of age-appropriate feeding skills
- Behavioral-feeding disorders
- Oral motor dysfunction
- Hyper/Hypo sensitivities
- Dysphasia/swallowing difficulties
- Postural and seating issues