Many children, however, struggle with sensory integration and have an aversion not only to eating, but also touching and playing with food. Eating is the most complex sensory task that children do. It involves sight, sound, touch, taste, smell, balance, proprioception (body positioning), and interoception (sensitivity to internal stimuli). Before a child will put an unfamiliar food into his mouth, he must overcome any fear or anxiety associated with the food. These fears can be overcome by addressing all sensory areas involved. Food exploration, or food play, is an excellent way to address these areas. A qualified speech therapist will find ways to assist a child in working through food aversions in a Frisco feeding therapy program. Each of our clinic locations have therapists with specialized training in feeding therapy since this is a critical need in the communities we serve.
There are many advantages of incorporating food play into a child’s feeding therapy program. Several feeding therapy approaches include food play as an essential step to feeding success. Jennifer Sananikone, MS, CCC/SLP, can design a Plano feeding therapy program built around the SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) Approach to feeding. This approach, developed by Dr. Kay Toomy, a pediatric psychologist, focuses on increasing a child’s comfort level by exploring and learning about the different properties of food. This approach allows a child to interact with food in a playful, non-stressful way, beginning with the ability to tolerate the food in the room and in front of him/her; then moving on to touching, kissing, and eventually tasting and eating foods (Kay A Toomy, 2014).
Presenting the food to the child in a fun, positive way decreases his fear and anxiety and allows him to feel “safe” interacting with the unfamiliar food. Exposure to the new food items may be presented using a hierarchy strategy: moving from tolerating the food in the room, to interacting with the food, to smelling, to touching, to tasting and, finally, to eating (Kay A Toomy, 2013).
For example, if the child can tolerate the sight and smell of chocolate pudding, but is resistant to touch it, the progression may look like this:
• Therapist presents the pudding in a sealed plastic bag and encourages the child to touch the bag with a toy – maybe rolling over the bag with a toy car.
• Poking the bag of pudding with his finger. Drawing a face or shapes on the bag with his finger.
• Picking up the bag with one then both hands.
• Squishing the food in the bag.
• Toss the bag back and forth.
• Poke a small hole in the bag and squeeze the pudding out onto the table.
• Touch the pudding with a familiar/preferred food (french fry). Draw funny faces in the pudding with the french fry.
• Rolling toy cars through the pudding (pretend it’s a mud race).
• Draw faces/shapes/letters in pudding with finger.
• “Paint” fingernails with pudding.
• Draw on hands with pudding.
The child is now having fun with the pudding and is comfortable touching it and having it on his hands. This may be accomplished in one session or it may take several sessions, depending on the child. As his fear and anxiety about the new food decreases he will become more willing to move forward to tasting and eventually eating.
A successful feeding therapy program will incorporate food exploration, or food play, to teach the child how to interact with food in a safe, non-stressful way. While it may seem that playing with food is unrelated to feeding, it is actually a natural and effective part of the learning process.
Health insurance often covers feeding therapy. If you would like to talk to a professional about concerns for your child in the area of feeding, or would like for us to check your insurance benefits, please contact us at 972-424-0148.
Jennifer Sananikone, M.A. CCC-SLP, the primary author of this article provides therapy in our Plano Clinic and treats children birth to teens with speech, language and feeding challenges.
