Feeding therapy focuses on helping children develop the skills they need to eat and drink independently and safely. We do separate evaluations to determine if a child is a good candidate for feeding therapy, so some kids get “regular” OT in addition to feeding therapy. This therapy often addresses both oral motor skills and sensory processing needs, as they can both play a crucial role in feeding. Oral motor skills involve the coordination of muscles in the mouth, jaw, and tongue, which are necessary for chewing, swallowing, and drinking. We work on strengthening these muscles, improving tongue control, and promoting better lip closure to help the child manage different textures and types of food. Sensory needs are also an important part of feeding therapy, as some children may have heightened or diminished sensitivity to certain textures, tastes, smells, or temperatures of food. The therapist may use a variety of strategies to help the child tolerate new foods, reduce gagging, and improve the child’s ability to self-regulate during mealtimes. Techniques like using a play-based approach to eating, engaging in family mealtimes, and engaging in fun cooking projects are often used to make mealtime a more positive experience. Overall, feeding therapy takes a holistic approach to improve a child’s ability to eat, incorporating both physical and sensory elements to create a healthy and enjoyable feeding routine.

 

Activities to Complete at Home:

  1. Blowing bubbles – Encourage blowing bubbles with a bubble wand to strengthen lip closure and control airflow.
  2. Blowing through a straw – Use straws for blowing activities like blowing cotton balls or feathers to improve lip and cheek strength.
  3. Chewing on chewy toys – Provide chewy tubes, soft chewy foods, or chewy necklaces to help with jaw strength and coordination.
  4. Eating a variety of textures – Gradually introduce different textures like crunchy, chewy, or smooth foods to expand on foods the child is exposed to, as long as they are cleared by their doctor to do so.
  5. Chewing gum – If age-appropriate, chewing gum helps strengthen jaw muscles and promotes sensory awareness.
  6. Drinking through straws – Practice drinking from a straw with a variety of liquids to encourage tongue and lip coordination. You can even suck things like yogurt, pudding, or applesauce through a straw for an added challenge!
  7. Mirror, Mirror – Use mirrors when eating to help a child develop improved awareness of how their mouth is moving. You can demonstrate your own chewing patterns with certain foods, and then have them look in the mirror at what their lips, tongue, and teeth are doing to match yours.
  8. Blowing up a balloon – Blowing up balloons helps strengthen the muscles needed for blowing and breath control.
  9. Sucking from a thick smoothie or milkshake – Use a thicker beverage to work on sucking and tongue control.
  10. Blowing a pinwheel – Have the child blow on a pinwheel to practice controlled airflow and lip closure.
  11. Change properties of food – You can expand the foods your child is exposed to by changing certain properties of a food they are familiar to make it just a little bit different.  For example, try cutting up foods into small pieces, serving it at different temperatures, using cookie cutters to change the shape, using food coloring to change the color, or adding a different flavor to it (such as adding sugar, salt, cinnamon, vanilla).
  12. Licking a lollipop or popsicle – This helps with tongue strength and control, as well as lip closure.
  13. Oral Motor Imitation – Have the child copy you making a variety of different faces, especially using different mouth positions. You can use a mirror to make this game more fun and see if your faces match!
  14. Tongue exercises – Have the child stick out their tongue, move it side to side, or touch their nose/chin to build strength and coordination. If they are not sensitive to being messy, you can dab small amounts of food like pudding around their mouth to see if they can lick it off using only their tongue.
  15. Using a spoon or fork – Encourage using utensils to practice mouth-to-hand coordination and improve self-feeding skills.
  16. Drinking from a cup – Practice drinking from a regular cup without spilling to work on lip and tongue control. In OT, we often work on trying to move away from “sippy” cups, which do not help promote mature oral motor skills.
  17. Oral motor exercises – Have the child make silly faces, pretend to kiss, or make “fish faces” to exercise the facial muscles.
  18. Cooking projects – Get your child involved in helping to prepare meals.  Through stirring, pouring, cutting soft foods, and touching ingredients, they will be exposed to new smells, textures, and maybe even tastes!
  19. Blowing through a whistle – Blowing a whistle helps develop breath control and strengthen oral motor muscles.
  20. Foods to promote jaw strength – If it is safe to do so, try chewy foods like bagels, fruit leather, beef or turkey jerky, or dried mango to help improve jaw strength.