Beginner's Guide to Oral Motor Treatment

The Beginners Guide to Oral Motor Intervention is a concise resource for occupational therapy practitioners newly entering the pediatric feeding space who wish to explore this setting with confidence! Using this guide, you will be able to begin to develop clinical reasoning bridges between main pediatric feeding considerations to develop a solid intervention plan supporting progress in feeding skills from an oral motor skills and developmental perspective! This guide was designed with both new grad occupational therapy practitioners stating their career in pediatric feeding and clinicians transitioning from other settings or want to expand their expertise to include pediatric feeding.This informative and easy to read guide contains information from a variety of perspectives that influence oral motor intervention when addressing feeding skills. Topics include oral facial anatomy, physiology, oral reflexes, oral development and a consideration of how and where oral motor skills fit into the Pediatric Feeding Framework. Extensive information is provided on commonly used tools and supplies in pediatric feeding settings and guidance on how to recognize considerations for safe feeding and grade and adapt food and liquids within feeding sessions. The treatment appendix includes detailed examples of how to apply information presented directly into a feeding therapy session broken up by specific oral motor skill being targeted and paired with strategies to grade and adapt oral motor interventions to the "just right challenge" and model parent education for home carryover.This text is published by an OTA and OT duo who took on this project as a labor of love for our OT community. Sara initially wrote this book with Debb during her level 2 fieldwork intervention to help her navigate providing effective interventions for children with feeding goals within occupational therapy. She has been involved in the pediatric feeding community since that time and has gone on to pursue a career focused on feeding intervention as well as present on this topic to encourage other new grad OTPs not to be intimidated by the feeding world. Debb is an OT who has worked in peds feeding since 2014 after pursuing this passion as a new grad herself. She owns a pediatric feeding practice in NC, where she and Sara work together supporting children in achieving success in feeding goals! Debb is passionate about pediatric feeding and supporting others to expand their skills and confidence in feeding. She offers continuing education and resources focused on her mission to advance feeding accessibility in pediatrics. Read more