Mouth Moves: Helping Parents to Support Oral Motor Development in their Children for Pediatric Feeding Success

Course overview

Many children who experience feeding difficulties struggle to develop the oral motor skills necessary to eat and enjoy a variety of different foods. This course will explore how feeding therapists can coach parents to help children develop oral motor skills in the context of everyday eating opportunities. The workshop, based on the principles of responsive feeding, will provide a brief overview of the developmental acquisition of oral motor skills and explore how practitioners can help parents to 1. Read their child's cues 2. Identify permission and 3. Sensitively engage their child in activities that support oral motor skill development. There will be an emphasis on helping therapists use parent coaching techniques so that parents can be the ones to support their child's development in the context of everyday eating routines.