For those of you who don’t know, I am Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) Approach to Feeding Trained and have been since 2020! SOS focuses on teaching the skills required to eat a variety of foods through exposure and practice. The stars are finally aligning in ways that I truly never imagined. Starting my practice in 2021 just two years post grad school felt like the right thing to do and I’ve always been an I-can-do-anything-I-put-my-mind-to person… But business owning is easily the most challenging task I’ve assigned to myself. I am so grateful for all of the life changes, no matter how difficult, that have led me to exactly where I am now, which, most notably, includes an opportunity to have an office space where clients can come to me. This allows me to maximize my time and resources by having a “home base”. Even more so, it means that I can pursue my passion in private practice: feeding therapy.
I have always been interested in feeding therapy–it was actually the first form of clinical observation I experienced in undergrad! Feeding is a bit of a niche in the sense that, if you don’t work in a feeding clinic (or private practice), you may never get the chance to gain experience in that area of speech pathology. This was exactly my experience until now! I have been on a mission to refresh and grow my expertise in the area of feeding, particularly in the area of transitioning from baby food and pureed consistencies to solids. I have finally installed a high chair in my office that adapts to toddlers and school-age children, and I’m so excited to continue along this path.
I want to share with you the reason why feeding therapy is so important to me. The number one reason is that food has ALWAYS been more than nourishment. We share meals together as friends and families, in times of joy and sadness, to mark cultural events and celebrations, and so much more. Food IS nourishment and it is important to nourish our bodies so that our brains can grow and develop, but the social tie to food is also quite meaningful and impactful. I want to support families in experiencing stress free meal times by helping their little ones make the transition to solid foods or their a bit bigger than little ones develop the skills and tolerance to try new foods and increase their food repertoire.
Quick tips for feeding that you can try at your next meal time:
Reduce the pressure. Fed is best, and if they are not eating what you want them to eat, forcing it or bribing or any other conditional action can lead to a more restrictive outcome.
Have a “learning plate”. This is where disliked or not-yet-tolerated foods go during meal times. It supports exposure through sight and smell by simply being on the table. You can further increase exposure through touch and taste by playing and interacting with the food without the expectation of it being eaten.
Talk about your food! How it tastes, what it looks like, feels like, if you like it or not. Children are master imitators, and most often, they want to please or “do the right thing”. When you model liking and disliking things it gives them the script to say “I don’t like this” or “This feels slimy, I don’t want anymore” as opposed to having a tantrum or immediately rejecting a food because they don’t know how to articulate their discomfort. Even we as adults dislike, refuse, and do not eat certain foods. We can’t expect children to not develop their own dislikes!
It does take several exposures to a food to truly know if you dislike a food (think 10 plus!), but that doesn’t mean those 10 exposures should be forced, conditional (i.e. “eat this or no dessert”, “eat this or go straight to bed’) experiences. Patience and frequent exposure to a wide variety of foods from the very beginning is important!
Get in touch with the author:
Email me at kknowsley@cradletotable.com with any questions or thoughts you have on this topic. I would love to connect with you!
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