Full Course Description

Complex Feeding Issues: Sensory, Motor, and Behavior Techniques for Autism, Cerebral Palsy and other Developmental Delays

Sensory treatment strategies to keep mealtimes peaceful
Decrease food jags for Autism
Blend motor and sensory strategies to address feeding delays
Deep breathing and proprioceptive input to address self-regulation at the table

Do you work with special needs children who cry or scream, throw food, refuse to sit at a table and eat, or refuse to try new foods? Do you know children who eat only a limited number of foods or only eat the same food over and over? Is going to a restaurant out of the question for the families you work with?

Attend this seminar to get the strategies you need to make mealtimes more peaceful and positive!

You will learn much more than the sensory issues causing these feeding difficulties; we will examine behavior issues as well as oral motor difficulties. Through the use of video case examples, I will show you treatment strategies, demonstrations, and hands on exercises to gain the knowledge needed to successfully treat feeding difficulties in children with Autism, Cerebral Palsy and more.

Walk away with advanced techniques to:

Evaluate the causes of mealtime difficulties: behavior, sensory, oral motor, or a combination
Increase range of foods, decrease food jags
Blend motor and sensory to address feeding delays in cerebral palsy
Increase jaw strength and decrease ineffective lip closure, or poor tongue lateralization
Use deep breathing and proprioceptive input to address self-regulation at the table
Develop tactile, auditory and smell to increase participation for kids w/decreased vision or cortical impairment
Educate parents and caregivers to promote carryover at home

OUTLINE

Complex Feeding Issues

Common misconceptions explained
Overlap of sensory processing skills, oral motor skills and behaviors
Normal development key points

Evaluation of Feeding Skills

Observations: sensory or behavior responses
Oral motor evaluation for jaw, lips, and tongue strength and range of motion for feeding
Foods that give you information quick
Quick sensory tasks for a sensory profile
Case study: Putting it all together.
Video of evaluations, and case studies

TECHNIQUES AND TREATMENT STRATEGIES

Autism

Address food jags
Make food fun: sticks, cubes and more to increase oral motor skills
Address mealtime behaviors such as not sitting and throwing food
Easy ways to regulate arousal at the table using breathing and proprioceptive input
Systemic desensitization to address tactile over responsivity
Video case study

Cerebral Palsy

Oral motor exercises to promote rotary chewing, tongue lateralization and lip closure
Easy techniques to Increase under responsivity
Tone management for increased range of motion in lips and cheeks
Hand to mouth connection
Handling and seating techniques
Exercises to decrease tongue thrust
Sensory input to increase oral motor muscle responsivity
Stretching the oral facial muscle to regulate tone for chewing and straw drinking
Video case examples

Other Development Delays (Down Syndrome, Failure to Thrive, and Global Delays)

Easy sensory techniques for children with decreased vision and cortical vision impairment
Address cognitive delays using sensory processing and motor skills
Oral motor exercises and “mealtime concepts” for children who do not eat by mouth
Failure to thrive: make fun food and increase interest
Video case examples

Promote Carry- Over at Home

Education of family and caregiver on complexity of feeding
Create peaceful mealtime at home through routine
Easy oral motor exercises during play and mealtimes
Easy sensory activities to promote attention and regulation during mealtime

OBJECTIVES

Evaluate how sensory processing, behavior and oral motor skills impact or interfere with each child’s ability to eat.
Role Play how to implement sensory techniques during and prior to meal times to address difficulties such as not wanting to touch certain foods or sitting at the table.
Implement oral motor exercises and strategies to promote feeding patterns such as rotary chewing pattern, lip closure and tongue lateralization.
Explore the misconceptions about feeding that impact special needs children.
Evaluate the behaviors that interfere with eating and learn strategies to address the behavior.
Support and guide the parents, caregivers and other family members through often emotional or stressful meal times.

Copyright : 04/21/2017

Mealtime Success: Transform Food Refusal Into Food Acceptance

4 Dietary myths that contribute to nutritional problems
Strategies to successfully introduce new and nourishing foods
Re-establish healthy roles and responsibilities during mealtimes
Interventions that motivate and reward expanded food choices
Synchronicities between play behaviors, emotional development and mealtime skills

Eating disorders, obesity, diabetes, and chronic gastrointestinal inflammation frequently form unhealthy partnerships with the sensory and behavioral challenges faced by autistic children at mealtime. Sensory processing problems heighten aversions and obsessions to specific smells, textures, and tastes, resulting in extremely selective eating, nutritional deficiencies, and food addictions that aggravate gastrointestinal disorders common on the autism spectrum. Parents and guardians often exacerbate the problem by reacting to behavioral challenges at the table in ways that actually reinforce poor eating habits.

Discover highly effective, step-by-step strategies for integrating new and nourishing foods, expanding food selection, preventing GI distress, and transitioning the dinner table from battleground to common ground. This course will outline typical development of eating skills, medically recognized nutritional needs of the growing child, and sensory-based approaches to mealtime behavioral issues. Explore a variety of techniques that encourage children to participate during mealtime. Learn to develop successful programs that promote active play, self-care, compassionate caregivers, and the use of imagination.

OUTLINE

OVERVIEW

Commonalities in the epidemics of autism, obesity, GI inflammation, and diabetes
Need for multifaceted nutritionally-based approach to these conditions
Importance of child-centered approach for long-term successful outcomes

HUNGER AND SATIETY

Biomedical reasons for refusal to eat
Sensory processing factors that affect food choices
Research supporting the benefits of enjoying what we eat
Use positive behavioral reinforcement to get improved food exploration
Case studies

TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE NUTRITIONAL OUTCOMES

Common food “addictions ” that affect nutrition and health
Nutrition impact on neurodevelopment and autism
Food journals to assess nutritional needs
Food journals to assess sensory preferences
Create food chains to expand a child’s diet
Case studies

STRATEGIES FOR: A CAREGIVER’S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR NUTRITIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL OUTCOMES

Why children (and the adults who care for them) make toxic food choices
Research on the importance of family meals
Re-establish healthy roles and responsibilities
Assist caregivers with meal planning
Case studies

A CHILD-CENTERED PROGRAM FOR SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMES

Problems of trust for “super-tasters” and “super-smellers”
Use developmental assessments to determine readiness for mealtime skills
Create play-based programs to develop comfort with unfamiliar foods
Case studies

OBJECTIVES

Communicate commonalities in the development of play, emotional intelligence and mealtime skills.
Determine common myths about picky eaters and the research-based evidence that contradicts these commonly held assumptions.
Analyze and differentiate a child’s current food choices for nutritional value and sensory preferences
Formulate a plan for successfully introducing new and nourishing foods.
Integrate therapeutic interventions that motivate and reward expanded food choices and the development of competent eating skills.