Feeding Therapy for Picky Eating & Sensory Feeding Challenges in Menlo Park & San Jose, CA
Increase Dietary Diversity for Wellness
Do you or your child have strong food preferences or aversions? Or feel heightened emotions during mealtimes that are hard to soothe? These might be indicators of picky eating or sensory feeding challenges.
At Peninsula Associates Speech Therapy Services, our compassionate and skilled team is here to clear confusion surrounding eating struggles and lead the way to new skills and foods to help you or your child enjoy a healthy, flavorful life.
What’s the Difference Between Picky Eating and Sensory Feeding Challenges?
Picky eating occurs when a child, teen, or adult prefers and avoids certain foods. To overcome having limited dietary options, you or your child can work with a therapist to expand food preferences and enjoy a diverse, nutritious palate.
Sensory feeding challenges exist when the sensory aspects of food, such as taste, smell, texture, or appearance, influence strong preferences and heightened emotional responses. It is necessary to address sensory feeding challenges quickly to ensure you or your child receive an adequate amount of nutrients to sustain health and wellness.
Who Can Benefit from Feeding Therapy?
Feeding therapy can help children, teens, and adults who experience the following common signs of picky eating:
- Prefer a limited variety of foods
- Avoid certain foods based on taste, smell, or texture
- Reject or slowly accept unfamiliar foods
Feeding therapy can also help people who face these common signs of sensory feeding challenges:
- Prefer a minimal assortment and quantity of foods
- Have strong aversions to certain foods based on taste, smell, texture, temperature, or appearance
- Appear anxious or express heightened distress during mealtimes
- Show weight loss from reduced eating
Our Approach to Feeding Therapy
At Peninsula Associates Speech Therapy Services, we strive to deliver the highest quality of care in a compassionate and collaborative environment to support effective progress. To help you or your child address picky eating or sensory feeding challenges, we follow these three steps as a team:
- Find the source of your or your child’s struggles.
- Create a personalized approach to overcome difficulties.
- Work together to achieve easy, enjoyable eating experiences.
Benefits of Feeding Therapy
With personalized support and consistent practice, our patients often experience improvements in the following areas:
- Oral skills: experience easier chewing, sipping, sucking, and swallowing.
- Food orientation: prefer a broader variety and amount of food.
- Eating mindset: enjoy positive feelings toward the process of eating.
Why Choose Peninsula Associates Speech Therapy Services?
We’ve been leading patients to success since 1978. With evidence-based research and techniques, our speech and language therapists craft and customize treatment plans that help people of all ages thrive in life.
While working with one of our experienced therapists, you or your child will participate in exercises and activities that feel natural, functional, and personalized to achieve successful results. At Peninsula Associates Speech Therapy Services, you or your child are in compassionate, skilled hands.
Reach Out Today to Get Started
If you or your child struggles with picky eating or sensory feeding challenges, our team is here to help. Reach out to Peninsula Associates Speech Therapy Services today and schedule an appointment. Let’s work together to build skills and diversify food preferences for your or your child’s nourishment and pleasure.