Feeding Clinic

Today the boys attended feeding clinic. Their diet consist mostly of soft, finely cut foods. We are trying to figure out how to get them to eat more age appropriately. I brought a variety, 10 different foods, for them to eat. A speech therapist, occupational therapist, dietician, nurse and social worker all facilitated the clinic. They watched the boys eat and fed them. Nathan likes to feed himself so he did a lot of his feeding. After watching Nathan they realized that Nathan does not chew. He swallows everything whole. This is why he chokes so often. They gave us a special nubby brush and taught us some oral exercises to do with Nathan to teach him to chew. We are not going to try and increase his textures until he learns to chew. Owen places his tongue to the roof is his mouth every time he opens his mouth. We are going to starting feeding him on the sides, so his food is not placed under his tongue. He too has a nubby brush and we have some exercises for him to do as well. This too should help to increase his textures. It was a great appointment. We have a much better understanding of the mechanics of how they eat and knowing what we can do to help them improve.