DTA’s in a Feeding Frenzy: More Feeding Support, More Locations, Happier Mealtimes
Feeding Therapy Is Now Widely Available in Durham, Raleigh & Winston-Salem
Mealtimes are a big part of a child’s everyday life, but for some children and families, eating can be challenging. Whether it’s a very limited list of preferred foods, difficulty trying new foods, sensory sensitivities, or challenges with the physical skills needed for eating, feeding therapy can help.
We’re excited to share that feeding therapy evaluations and ongoing sessions are now widely available at DTA’s Durham, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem locations.
What Is Feeding Therapy?
Feeding therapy helps children build the skills and confidence they need to participate more successfully in eating and mealtimes.
Depending on a child’s individual needs, feeding therapy may be provided by an Occupational Therapist (OT), a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP), or sometimes both.
What Does Feeding OT Look Like?
An Occupational Therapist may focus on areas such as:
- Sensory sensitivities to different tastes, smells, textures, or temperatures
- Comfort exploring and trying new foods
- Increasing food variety
- Mealtime routines and participation
- Positioning, coordination, and independence with utensils
- Helping make mealtimes feel more manageable for the child and family
OT feeding therapy often uses play, exploration, and gradual exposure to help children become more comfortable interacting with food.
What Does Feeding Speech Therapy Look Like?
A Speech-Language Pathologist may focus more closely on the oral-motor and swallowing skills involved in eating and drinking, including:
- Chewing and moving food safely in the mouth
- Drinking from cups, straws, or other vessels
- Managing different food textures
- Oral-motor coordination
- Swallowing concerns
- Building safe and effective eating skills
When Might a Feeding Evaluation Be Helpful?
A feeding evaluation may be worth considering if your child has an extremely limited diet, regularly refuses foods or entire food groups, struggles with certain textures, has difficulty chewing or swallowing, experiences stressful mealtimes, or simply isn’t progressing with eating skills as expected.
The evaluation helps our team understand what may be contributing to the feeding challenge and which type of therapy would best support your child.
Feeding Support Across DTA
With expanded feeding availability, families can now access feeding evaluations and ongoing feeding therapy at our:
Durham | Raleigh | Winston-Salem locations.
Our goal is the same as it is with all of our services: helping children and families work toward meaningful, everyday successes — including the ones that happen around the table.