Our Services

Feeding Therapy

Feeding Therapy involves the assessment, management, and treatment of various conditions affecting a person’s ability to eat and drink. Individuals with feeding and/or swallowing disorders (dysphagia) have difficulties eating and drinking which may result in poor nutrition, frequent illnesses and increased risk of pneumonia or lung infections. Our Speech & Language Therapists (SLTs) assess, diagnose, and help individuals of all ages with a range of difficulties surrounding feeding and/or swallowing. These difficulties may be due to:

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Feeding Therapy

Individual Sessions For Children

Our SLTs are champions of collaborative care and we look forward to assisting you and your child with mealtimes. Our therapy sessions are relationship-based, child-led, and focus on your child’s strengths. We believe that every child has different needs, and we are excited to embark on this journey of discovering your child’s feeding needs with you!

The following are some common signs and symptoms that children with feeding and/or swallowing disorders present with:

Feeding Therapy

Group Sessions for Children

Apart from working in individual settings, Ohana Therapy also runs group feeding therapy sessions for children. Children will be grouped based on their ages and/or ability levels to ensure conducive, comfortable, and productive sessions. Parents are also highly encouraged to sit in to ensure carryover of feeding skills to home settings.

There will be two feeding therapists to a group of maximum 5 parent-child dyads. Therapists will incorporate sensory and oral motor support strategies as necessary to support each individual. The group setting provides the added benefit of learning through peer interaction and modelling.

As documented in Albert Bandura’s seminal work in Social Psychology, children demonstrate much more gains learning from peers like themselves, as opposed to role models who are too far advanced in their skills, such as peers in school, therapists, or parents. At Ohana Therapy, we acknowledge that each child has a different strength and area of need within feeding. Our feeding group allows children with feeding problems to act as a role model themselves with some foods (also allowing for  positive reinforcement and increased self esteem during eating), as well as to watch and learn from the other children who may be demonstrating a skill that they have yet to acquire, e.g. a new food that they are not yet willing to try.

Eating is a highly social activity. By creating a fun and relaxed atmosphere in the sessions, we hope to reduce anxieties children may have with trying new or undesired foods thus increasing opportunities for food exploration and working toward expanding their diet!

Your participation in the feeding groups is also very important in your child’s progress. The feeding group will be a safe space for parents to share stories about the difficult emotions that come with children’s mealtime struggles. There will also be mutual learning through the observations of other parent-child dyads during mealtimes.

Feeding Therapy

For Adolescents and Adults

As adults, often we are more aware of our difficulties than children are, and that can get frustrating. Fret not! Our SLT team is here to guide you and your family through this journey of further developing your eating and drinking skills. Swallowing difficulties (also known as dysphagia) in adults may arise from a range of conditions such as:

In essence, dysphagia is the difficulty of moving food or liquid safely from the mouth to the stomach. This often results in difficulties in maintaining nutrition intake and staying healthy. Dysphagia can lead to many serious medical conditions such as malnutrition, dehydration and aspiration pneumonia. They can present in various forms, such as:

To accommodate our clients who may have mobility challenges or are unable to attend sessions in the clinic for any reason, our SLT team will be available for mobile sessions at your preferred location.

Feeding Therapy for Adult

We Would Love to Help You

Individual Therapy Sessions

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Home-based or School-based Sessions

Find out more about our selection of mobile therapy services.