Our Services

Having a child with feeding difficulties is hard. Whether you have a picky eater, a child who is refusing most foods you give them and is losing weight, or you have a child on a feeding tube - it is hard and stressful. Rise Up Pediatric Therapy knows and understands the struggles that families and caregivers go through in order to feed their child. We also know how hard and stressful it is for the child who has a lot of thoughts and feelings about the foods they will (or will not) put in their mouth. 

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We have many years of experience working alongside children and their families to better understand what each child may be experiencing and is needing during meals. At the core of our intervention strategies is the relationship between the child and their parents/caregivers. This relationship is often stressed because of the feeding challenges both the parent/caregiver and the child have been through. The first step in our process is to repair and strengthen this relationship so both the child and their parents/caregivers feel safe and happy during mealtimes. 

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Our feeding approach relies on responsive feeding principles which reinforce verbal and non verbal gestures that we all give off during meals and social interactions. Helping parents/caregivers better recognize and understand these cues from their child is vital to the feeding relationship. Once we can consistently recognize and respond to cues during the mealtime we can incorporate a variety of methodologies to help your child feel safe and confident trying and exploring new foods.  Being an OT, we do a thorough exploration of the sensory properties of foods as well as the sensory profile of our children and their parents/caregivers. We also screen for oral motor differences which may be contributing to difficulties eating. 

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At Rise Up Pediatric Therapy, families will get a personalized and thorough understanding of the components that go into eating. They will receive coaching about the impacts of our nervous system on feeding as well as a deep understanding of the verbal and non verbal cues communicated from their child (and them)! Our treatment sessions happen in your home. This is vital to the incorporation of strategies because both the child and their parents/caregivers can learn first hand how to implement strategies and ideas in their natural context - their home!

 

We look forward to partnering alongside you and your family to explore together how we can make mealtimes more enjoyable!