Tasting Success

Most parents anticipate or become used to dealing with a child who is considered a “picky eater.”

It’s usually part of what it means to be a toddler. But what if your child’s finicky palate became a more serious issue— one that affected her growth?

That’s the problem that faced Amy and Jarrod Panter with their 3-year-old daughter Julia. They were concerned with her limited volume and selection of food. “When Julia was 10 months old, she would hardly eat,” said Amy.
“She only wanted dry, salty foods. When I would tell her ‘we’re not eating crackers,’ she wouldn’t eat at all, sometimes for more than a day.”

As a result of her food issues, Julia ranked in the lower percentiles for weight and height for her age. After 
a couple of months of treatment in an infant and toddler program, Julia was still having significant issues with food.

That’s when Amy, an R.N. at Saint Luke’s Hospital, noticed a “Picky Eater?” poster at Saint Luke’s Child Care Center, Julia’s daycare facility.

In spring 2012, Julia started feeding therapy with Kirsten Schalekamp, M.S., CCC-SLP a speech-language pathologist at The Children’s SPOT.

“Julia has Sensory Feeding Disorder, which is a difficulty in the way the brain takes in, organizes, and uses sensory information,” said Kirsten. “It causes a person to have problems processing and reacting to information received through the senses—to interacting effectively with food.”

This interaction involves all aspects of food—being aware of its texture as well as looking at, smelling, touching, tasting, and even hearing it. The Children’s SPOT has two speech-language pathologists trained in the Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) approach to feeding, which integrates
 a series of factors to comprehensively evaluate and manage children with feeding and growth problems.

“This is something we’re seeing more and more of these days,” said Jeanette Worthington, director of The Children’s SPOT. “These are children that are very much beyond being just ‘picky eaters.’ They truly limit themselves to only eating three to four food items, and it causes significant stress on the family. Sometimes it can be related to premature birth or autism, but we’re also seeing it in a number of children who seem to be doing fine otherwise.”

Kirsten’s work with Julia involves “play with a purpose.” The therapy creates positive experiences around food, helping Julia progress through a series of 32 steps in relation to eating as she moves at her own pace. “She’s learning to have fun with food while broadening the list of foods she’ll try,” said Kirsten.

Julia has made significant progress and she’s much more willing to try different foods. Her parents participate in the process and use techniques at home to help ensure her success. Julia will continue to work at The Children’s SPOT and at home to improve her oral-motor skills and to expand the range and volume of foods to improve her weight gain and growth. And to simply enjoy trying new foods.

“Julia’s finally gaining ground with her growth, moving up to the 10th percentile for her age,” said Amy. “And she’ll now ask for food that I never thought she would like, such as celery and blue- berries—my mouth drops open! She may take only one bite, but that’s a success.”