Blossom Pediatric Speech Therapy provides feeding and swallowing therapy to infants and children throughout Sonoma County and Marin County. We provide little ones and their families with the tools, training, and confidence to overcome feeding related challenges including but not limited to:
- Weight gain/growth
- Food selectivity and/or food refusal
- G-tube dependency
- Transitioning from breast/bottle to table foods
- Transitioning from purees to solids
Oral-Motor
Oral-motor development refers to the use and function of the lips, cheeks, tongue, jaw, teeth, and palates. Proper development of these structures is fundamental for speech production, feeding, and swallowing. Oral-Motor intervention is used to facilitate mobility, coordination, precision, strength, and endurance of the muscles within the oral cavity. At Blossom, oral-motor skills are targeted with real food during our feeding therapy sessions.
Feeding
According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), “Feeding disorders include problems gathering food and getting ready to suck, chew, or swallow.” Feeding therapy often uses a combination of sensory, behavioral, postural, and motor approaches to target a child’s feeding skills. Skilled intervention is utilized to increase oral awareness, reduce tactile sensitivity, and improve oral-motor function.
Swallowing
Swallowing is the process of sucking/chewing and moving food through the mouth, pharynx, and esophagus to the stomach while protecting the airway. Swallowing disorders, also known as dysphagia, can occur at the oral, pharyngeal, and esophageal phases of swallowing. Therapy will be individualized to target each child’s specific needs and may include strengthening exercises, positioning strategies, swallow maneuvers, and diet consistency modification.