Pediatric Feeding Therapy Services in Rochester
At Rise Above, our feeding therapy involves a unique play-based approach during treatment sessions that may involve, oral-motor strengthening exercises, descriptive food language assisting with ARFID, and/or feeding trials with fun and age-appropriate compensatory strategies. Every child deserves to feel safe, supported, and stress-free during mealtimes to foster a healthy relationship with food.
At Rise Above Therapies, we believe therapy works best when families are at the center of it. That means we don’t just treat your child—we partner with you. Every session at our Rochester clinic is built around your goals, your questions, and your child’s unique personality.
What Is Pediatric Feeding Therapy?
Our pediatric feeding therapy sessions support safe, stress-free eating for children who struggle with chewing, swallowing, or food aversions. Oftentimes collaborating with occupational and physical therapists, pediatric speech-language therapists are trained to identify specific oral-mechanical areas involving feeding concerns and difficulties, followed by designing treatment plans that meet them your child exactly where they are. At Rise Above Therapies in Rochester, NY, that’s exactly what we do—and we do it with your family at the center, keeping you involved during each treatment.
Common Pediatric Feeding Concerns We Treat
*Infant feeding support (breast and bottle feeding) coming soon*
Pediatric Dysphagia
Oral-Motor Deficits/Delays
ARFID
Difficulty swallowing food with symptoms including, but not limited to, coughing, gagging, choking, watery eyes, and/or insufficient weight gain. Treatment involves teaching age-appropriate compensatory strategies and swallowing/oral-motor exercises through play-based activities and feeding trials.
Weakened strength, uncoordinated oral-motor movements, and/or delayed reactions within the mouth. Some signs or symptoms include, food staying inside sides of mouth after swallowing (pocketing), limited range of motion with tongue or jaw, and drooling or loss of food when eating. Treatment involves age-appropriate oral-motor strengthening exercises and teaching compensatory strategies.
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder characterized by an extremely severe limited diet affecting areas such as, sufficient weight gain, tolerance to different smells or sight of new foods, and anxiety or stress around mealtimes. Treatment involves collaboration within a team (ex: OT, PT, counseling, dietician, etc...), teaching compensatory oral-motor strategies, gradually introducing new foods based from current safe foods, and engaging play-based food descriptive language activities.
Meet our Feeding Therapist
Morgan Wright, M.S, CCC-SLP
Don’t see your child’s feeding diagnosis or concern listed?
Give us a call at 585-910-2292 - we’re happy to talk through your child’s needs.
Why is pediatric feeding therapy beneficial?
"Everyone deserves to enjoy food! Eating is an imperative life function for any living thing, and food is everywhere you go. Whether that is shopping, going to the fair, school lunches, or attending a birthday party, it is everywhere! For these reasons, I believe that every child should, and deserves to, experience a safe feeding environment, become excited or even tolerate being around food. Pediatric feeding therapy should be used as a tool to get them there - collaboration with other professionals is essential for feeding therapy to get an overall picture oral-motor abilities as well as behavioral and sensory components."
-Morgan Wright, M.S, CCC-SLP