Cheri Fraker - Food Chaining: The Proven 6-Step Plan to Stop Picky Eating, Solve Feeding Problems, and Expand Your Childs Diet

AS AN OCCUPATIONAL therapist who works with children with feeding issues, Ive had many parents share with me how lost, defeated, and disappointed they feel as a result of caring for a child with feeding difficulties. These parents feel they are to blame for their childrens feeding problems and that they have failed them. By the time their children have enrolled in therapy, the parents are usually filled with guilt and emotionally exhausted. The truth is that your childs picky or problem eating is not your fault, and you have done the best you can for your child given the resources available to you. Now there is a new resource available: its called food chaining.

The vast majority of children with a feeding disorder have a medical condition, an oral motor skills problem, a sensory processing disorder, a behavioral issue, or some combination thereof that is affecting their ability to eat. As an occupational therapist, I specialize in the sensory aspects of a feeding problem. My role is to establish what I call a childs sensory framework by evaluating her five senses as they relate to feeding. During the evaluation process, I identify how a child orients, processes, and registers sensory information (i.e., the appearance, smell, taste, and texture of the food) when she is eating. This is crucial information, because it gives me a clear and concise picture of a childs sensory tolerance to particular foods. More important, it helps me uncover a pattern that explains why the child accepts certain foods and rejects others (her sensory framework).

Food chaining is so effective because, unlike other feeding therapies, it takes all the childs sensory framework senses into account and it deals with the sensory challenges many children with feeding problems face. This specialized feeding therapy uses a team of medical experts (also known as a feeding team) to evaluate your child and determine exactly where the feeding process is breaking down for her. You will learn to understand how your child perceives the appearance, texture, smell, and taste of food, and why she reacts the way she does. With this knowledge, you and your childs feeding team will create a step-by-step treatment program to help her overcome her feeding problems. You will first establish a list of her preferred, tolerated, and rejected foods and gradually expand her diet safely and naturally based on her personal sensory tolerance and her emotional comfort.

One of the greatest strengths of food chaining is that the program is driven not just by the child, but by the parents and the needs of the entire family. The program is built around your goals for your child, whether they are to introduce your child to fruits and vegetables or to eat a meal as a family without confrontation or meltdowns. It is implemented by you at home with the support of the feeding team.

Whatever your goal may be, it can be achieved if you recognize and appreciate that there are numerous sensory influences on your child along the way. Food chaining is a wonderful program that can either complement your childs current treatment plan or offer crucial guidance if you are seeking help in overcoming your childs picky or problem eating. I commend Cheri Fraker, Laura Walbert, Sibyl Cox, and Dr. Mark Fishbein for their dedication to feeding therapy. I thank them for inviting both parents and professionals working in the world of feeding to apply food chaining to our current regimen of treatment.

Shannon Cole Barker, OTR/L
Pediatric Occupational Therapist