The Nuance Between a Responsive & Behavioral Approach to Feeding Therapy: Part 2

Part 2: The Case For a Responsive Approach to Feeding Therapy (Missed Part 1: Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Professionals & Feeding Intervention? Find it HERE.)   Drawbacks of Behavioral Methods in Feeding Therapy Practitioners who use behavioral modification methods in their therapy sessions do so because they believe them to be useful tools for achieving their agenda of getting a child to eat. I have worked with therapists who use them, have been directly referred patients from inpatient behavioral feeding programs, and have seen many behavioral protocols that parents have been asked to follow within these programs/therapies. My core belief system rejects the idea that it is my job to “get” a child to eat, and therefore it is not necessary for me to use any tool that may cause anxiety in child I am treating, which is often the case when these methods are used. I have heard ABA clinicians use the term “break the child” in reference to the point in therapy where a child ultimately gives up and begins complying with “taking bites” in therapy; this smacks of dehumanization and is cruel, in my opinion. Another explanation for “giving in” could be found in trauma theory. Research is needed to examine if giving in and eating is actually a trauma response. “When the dorsal vagal nerve shuts down the body, it can move us into immobility or dissociation”…that comes after “fight or flight”, where a child is trying to avoid eating whatever the adult is presenting. A child who ‘zones out’ after fighting tooth and nail to avoid something they perceive to be dangerous is not ‘complying’. They are...

Responsive Feeding Therapy with Severe Feeding Challenges: Lessons from Responsive Tube Weaning (Guest Post 1)

From parents and even professionals at workshops, we are often asked, “Well, Responsive Feeding Therapy sounds good, but does it work for children with severe challenges, or who ‘can’t’ feel hunger due to medical issues or feeding tubes?”  In this first guest post of two, we explore responsive therapies where relationship, autonomy and trust are guiding principals. The lessons learned from these challenging cases can apply to every family struggling with a child who is an anxious or reluctant eater.                             Heidi Moreland graciously shares some of her thoughts around tube weaning. Heidi Liefer Moreland, MS, CCC-SLP, BCS-S, CLCKids who are on feeding tubes have often missed the early period of learning to eat. For some of them, the medical difficulties that led to the placement of the feeding tube may continue to impact their development.  On top of that, the feeding tube itself will impact hunger, making learning to eat seem like unnecessary work. Children who are fearful, who learn more slowly, or have more difficulty with physical coordination are at even greater risk of getting “stuck” in a pattern of fear, feeding refusal and family frustration.Unfortunately, that often leads to the belief that they can’t or won’t learn to eat in the way that other children do. Parents and other professionals feel that if they want to help children become oral eaters they have no alternative to direct instruction, bribing, or forceful feeding tactics.  The problem is that we know those strategies are harmful to a healthy relationship with food and result in the most fragile eaters...

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