How can you as the CCC/SLP help the nursing mom, support the child and the family, work with the team and learn from the lactation consultant? Do you understand the benefits of feeding colostrum and breast milk and how that impacts development of the microbiome? What is the microbiome and why is it so important? How can you support the health of the microbiome? Do you understand the basics of breastfeeding and breast care? Do you want to pursue your CLC? How can you help the mom and baby have...

This episode teaches you how to do PreChaining therapy like an expert and fulfill your role well on a multidisciplinary feeding team. This is about the knowledge you gain only on the job, and only with experience. How do you do multidisciplinary PreChaining therapy and play Hot Potato well? How skilled are you? Do you understand the work the rest of the team is doing? Check and see! Let’s look at how to DO this the right way.

This episode explains how to do a safe, informative feeding and swallowing evaluation and what to do when things do go “off the rails.” Product flow rate issues? Positioning issues? Pacing needed? Or is something much more significant going on? What is the root of many types of feeding aversion and how does it show itself in infancy? Aspiration fears? How do you comfort and educate the parents? What do you DO?

Sometimes a mistake can be your best learning opportunity. Cheri shares all she has learned from making mistakes and how having mentors around her helped her grow through those challenging times.

Fear, dread, avoidance, nausea, pain, always choosing hunger over eating. Is your child caught in that trap? How do you get out? We have to take all thoughts into captivity and analyze them. We have to check our thinking. Are the fears realistic? I talk about treatment plans for extreme selectivity and ARFID. These are the kids that don’t eat. Yet.

This episode focuses on the child who won’t eat. How do you shape less than desirable behaviors into more positive behaviors? Is the child picky or truly selective? Is it even fair to call someone “picky?” What about negative, aggressive or dangerous behavior? Tantrums? Meltdowns? When do you need help? Ongoing refusal of food? It is more than picky. This episode is packed with suggestions to turn the tide, hear the SOS, help the child and the family and guide the child who won’t eat. You can...

Some children can’t eat, some won’t eat and some just don’t eat. Today, we talk about the children who can’t, cannot physically eat, we discuss the anatomical reasons why they struggle, and how to develop team treatment plans to intervene. You must treat the child and support the family. It is possible to overcome these issues and get the child eating again.

Help! The Holidays are here! This episode is full of tips to help you and your child have a great Thanksgiving. Travel tips, lodging suggestions, mealtime modifications, sensory breaks, calming breaks and other tips to help the day be as pleasant as possible.

Did you realize that you actually treat the Suck/Swallow/Breathe sequence long term? With infants, kids, teens and adults? How do you develop POWER musculature for safe eating and drinking? How can you improve swallowing beyond just using thickening? What activities help build a respiratory system that supports oral feeding? This episode answers those questions and covers the first three months of treatment using team care and diagnostic therapy. Happy Chaining!

This episode is about treating the child with special needs. Where do you start your treatment program for a child with special needs and the challenges of extreme selective eating? How do you make progress? Read cues? Tune in, and find out. Case histories are discussed in detail.  

It is estimated that 590 million people suffer from dysphagia. Dysphagia impacts infants, children, teens and adults. Acquired dysphagia will impact way too many people over the age of 60. Our Dysphagia Food Chaining therapy program is explained in detail. Multiple, specific food chaining ideas are shared, giving the listener foods to consider from all food groups. The complexity of advanced food chaining is evident. In regard to safety, the IDDSI and dysphagia chaining go hand in hand. Use...

This episode provides examples of clustered, brand specific food items to create initial food chains. In no way are these the only foods to accept. The American diet is addressed today. Specific, simple, easy to eat food chaining examples are provided because brand is very important to patients struggling to eat new foods. The goal is new without no, and new without fear. I also provide examples only, of some brand specific foods that are easier to eat from an oral sensory motor perspective....