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generally per day) where goals are set and adhered to. The
emphasis is on the carer engaging in each session with their
child with peer and staff support through a carer-support
group. The aim is to increase the child’s handling and in
gesting a greater range of intake of food tastes, types and
textures. Clinicians are engaged in direct sessions of oromotor
awareness, food preparation and calming activities while
carers attend support groups. Videotaping of sessions for carers
to rate and then discuss goals and outcomes is encouraged.
The final chapter focuses on a review program beyond the
intensive food program/course to monitor the child’s
progress and develop further eating and drinking skills. This
is largely a collection of checklist and feedback forms that
may be used by the clinician with carers.
The
Fun with Food Programme
provides an overview for
introducing an intensive intervention program for children
with oral feeding aversion and their families. Sensory and
tactile activities are well explored; however, some experience
in managing oromotor and feeding difficulties would be
helpful as specific intervention strategies are not well
described in some sessions, particularly in the oromotor
activities specifically relating to eating activities and feeding
sessions. It also a carer-based intervention program to
empower and train parents, which is commendable; however,
greater support and clinician modelling with eating sessions
may be more suitable for some families and children.
I would suggest that the manual is a useful resource but it
should be incorporated with other available texts and material
in this area for speech pathologists involved with assessing
and managing children with feeding difficulties.
intervention with the child. Areas addressed include
increasing parents’ understanding of nutritional information,
particularly on the importance of fluid balance, weight loss/
gain, supplements and how they are incorporated into the
program.
Developing carers’ awareness of how they interact with
their child during meals and whether this is conducive to oral
feeding is covered. The emphasis is on developing the
parents’ skills in identifying their child’s cues, language and
behaviour, and how to respond effectively to them. Mealtime
routines and parental expectations and agendas, and meal
time structure and routines and how these impact on their
child are explored and discussed. Practical eating/taste
sessions are included to improve parental understanding of
the child’s aversion to food from the child’s perspective.
Sensory processing difficulties and sensory diet are explained
and practical examples are given. The focus is also on
developing carer skills in setting goals for their child and
discussing these in the context of the team’s aims.
Chapter 4 is devoted to preparing the child for oral intake
and increasing the child’s understanding of food’s importance
for nutrition and growth, through play activities to explore
sensory domains such as handling foods of various textures
and equipment, with graded exposure to food types/textures
explained. Oral motor sessions are included to develop a
child’s oral facial awareness through learning about parts of
the mouth and their function, oral exploration and de
sensitisation activities.
The Fun with Food section (chapter 5) outlines daily
sessions where carers are engaged in feeding sessions (5