Services · Therapediatrics · Feeding
Feeding therapy for picky eaters
When mealtimes are a battle, or your child eats only a handful of foods, gags on textures or is not gaining weight, our speech and occupational therapists can help.
Touchstone Therapy Center provides pediatric feeding therapy in Vernon Hills, IL for picky eating, food refusal, texture aversion and swallowing concerns, from speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists.
Who it’s for
Infants through school age
Approach
Food chaining, oral-motor
Where
In the clinic, Vernon Hills
First step
A feeding evaluation
About feeding therapy
More than picky
Most kids go through a picky phase. Feeding therapy is for the child whose eating gets in the way of health, growth or family life. That might be a very short list of accepted foods, refusing whole food groups, gagging or vomiting with textures, trouble chewing or swallowing, or mealtimes that end in tears every night.
Feeding is a skill that mixes oral-motor ability, sensory processing and experience. Our speech-language pathologists work on chewing, swallowing and oral motor skills. Our occupational therapists work on sensory tolerance and the self-feeding skills of a meal. Often both are involved.
We use food chaining, which builds from foods your child already accepts toward new ones in small, tolerable steps. No forcing, no bribing, no clean-plate rules.
When to reach out
Signs a feeding evaluation would help
- Eats fewer than about twenty foods, or is dropping foods
- Gags, coughs or vomits with certain textures
- Refuses whole food groups or entire meals
- Mealtimes are stressful most days
- Not gaining weight as expected
- Trouble chewing, or pocketing food in the cheeks
How we help
Speech and occupational therapy together
Speech-language pathology
Oral motor skills, chewing, swallowing and food chaining.
Occupational therapy
Sensory tolerance for textures, smells and temperatures, and self-feeding skills.
Parents at the table
You learn what to do at home, because that is where most meals happen.
FAQ
Feeding therapy questions
Your care team
Meet our feeding therapists
Amanda Daneker
CCC-SLP
Lexi VanErden
COTA/L
Anna DiProva
OTR/L
Stephanie Rivera
COTA/L
Get started
Ready to get started?
Touchstone Therapy Center is here to help. Fill out this form to schedule an appointment, or call (847) 996-6666 and our care coordinator will call you back.
Call (847) 996-6666
Hours Mon–Thu 8:30–7 · Fri 8:30–5 · Sat 9–1
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