Occupational Therapy for Sensory Processing Mealtime Stress and Feeding Issues
Many children have significant mealtime difficulties that often impact the whole family. Being called a “fussy eater” may not truly cover the real challenges that some children experience when it comes to eating.
A child with sensory integration issues, mild to severe, may display difficulty with sitting at the table, touching the food, food texture or smells, adequately chewing, being able to try or accept new food items, use of utensils or cups, being able to handle the distractions of eating in a distracting environment such as at a school dining room or at a restaurant, and the list goes on.
When we start to talk about mealtime issues that a child may be having, we need to look at how a child is processing and interpreting sensory information. Each child is different, although most parents and caregivers’ express similar areas where they and the child needs support and guidance.
For many adults, when it comes to preparing and serving foods, it is often frustrating and a source of anxiety when your child will not eat what you serve, only eat specific limited food items, only eats in certain situations, or is unable to tolerate any change or addition to their normal accepted diet.
For children with sensory issues they may need time and repetition to become desensitized and able to tolerate first the new smell, appearance, taste, and texture of a new food. Gradual exposure does not mean offering different choices every day as this may only serve to overwhelm and over-stimulate the child, which ends up with the possibility of behavioral outbursts, or even refusal to eat anything at all.
Many children develop the “need” for “sameness” in the foods they will accept, tolerate, or even try. When new foods are presented your child may become anxious, have a sensory meltdown, or refuse to eat anything at all.
There are so many different reasons a child may have difficulty with feeding which includes delayed oral motor development, difficulties with visual motor skills and perception, sensory motor processing issues, fine motor control and grasping skills, distractions in the environment, difficulty with focus, and so many other reasons that there are too many to add here. All of these issues and deficits can affect the skills needed to properly use utensils, focus, tolerate texture, chew, and swallow.
This book, “Occupational Therapy for Sensory Processing Mealtime Stress and Feeding Issues” covers:
Mealtime Stress and Feeding Issues: An Introduction to Making Positive Changes
Developing a Food and Behavior Diary
Sensory System Information and Its Impact on Mealtime
Visual Sense / Vision
Tactile Sense / Touch
Olfactory Sense / Smell
Gustatory Sense / Taste
Auditory Sense / Hearing
Proprioception and Oral Motor Awareness
Adding New Foods – Making Small Changes
OT Mealtime Ideas and Activities “Just Outside Your Child’s Comfort Zone”
Early Self Help Skills: Drinking from a Cup
OT Learning Readiness Activities and Tasks
Early Self Help Skills: Using a Spoon
OT Learning Readiness Activities and Tasks
Learning with Use of Backward Chaining
OT Scooping Challenges and Activities
Make an Olfactory / Smell, and Oral Motor / Taste Sensory Box
Make Edible Sensory Slime for a Great Sensory Experience
Basic Edible Sensory Slime
Cornstarch Based Edible Sensory Slime
Edible Sensory Gummy Bear Slime
Edible Nutella Brand Sensory Slime
Edible Chocolate Sensory Slime
Sensory Edible Floppy Flubber Slime
Make Gelatin a Sensory Tasty Experience
OT Edible Gelatin Based Activities and Learning Experiences
Author, Judy Benz Duncan has been an Occupational Therapist for over thirty years. She has worked with children from infants to teenagers in numerous settings that included early intervention, pre-school programs, grade school, home health, developmental training centers, and sensory integration clinics.
Judy developed the foundation for designing therapeutic activities and tasks using interactive play and creative imagination to engage the children at a level they could easily relate to while working toward the achievement of their Occupational Therapy program’s functional goals and treatment plan
Judy attended the University of Florida, University of Kansas, and the University of Tennessee. She received New York State approval as a Supplemental Evaluator for OT with early intervention and pre-school students, and has helped develop and start an OT program for families and children in New York. Judy continues to stay up-to-date in the clinical field through mentoring other OT students and new graduates.
She continues to contribute to children, families and professionals everywhere through her professional writing endeavors which include writing books and manuals, managing the therapeutic website, TheraPlay4Kids.com, writing OT blogs and topic-specific articles, working on "interactive story play" book series, writing bi-weekly professional blogs for a pediatric orthopedic surgeon group, a psychiatrist, and an attorney at law. She continues to be an active mentor of new OT graduates, as well as OT students.
