This blog is dedicated to my favourite profession (biasedly because it is my profession), which is Occupational Therapy!
Typically, a dietician or speech therapist is sought after regarding feeding therapy, while their role is important, an Occupational Therapy role is equally as crucial to the feeding relationship and feeding therapy process. The Occupational Therapy ‘traditional’ role involves supporting people to return to their daily occupations following injury or illness. The profession has emerged and grown hugely however supporting people to engage in their daily occupation remains the focus.
Arguable feeding is a crucial daily activity, in which we play an important role in supporting children to engage with. We use a range of Occupational Therapy specific models to break down the activity of feeding, while looking at the task itself, and the environment in which mealtimes occur.
Occupational Therapy feeding specialists are skills in the following areas:
- Sensory processing (of the person, the environment, and specifically of the food)
- Trauma responsive informed practice (I have completed which requires specific training)
- Appropriate utensils and feeding equipment
- Positioning and gross motor skills
- Fine motor skills for managing cutlery and manipulating food
- Parent-child relationships and attachment theory
- Attention and concentration
- Play-based therapy
- Visual processing and communication
- Medical conditions and factors
- And of course, feeding therapy-specific training such as the Division of Responsibility and SOS.
It is safe to say Occupational Therapist play a crucial role in supporting children and whānau with their mealtime challenges.
Rebecca Barnard