Feeding Evaluation

Friday, March 30, we had a feeding therapy evaluation with the Speech and Language Therapist at Walla Walla General Hospital Rehab department. We had been waiting for insurance to authorize the new feeding therapy program before we could begin. To start off, they only authorized the evaluation and once they receive the recommendation from the therapist, they will decide whether or not to approve ongoing therapy.

I have to admit I have mixed feelings about the program. We did about a year and a half of feeding therapy like this starting from the time Caden was 5 months old until right before he turned two. We were unsuccessful in getting him to eat anything by mouth. However, the therapist was invaluable in terms of helping Caden maintain his oral motor skills even though he wasn't eating. This was HUGE when it came time to start the behavior based feeding program we began when he turned two.

I figured I would do the evaluation and see what happened. I really liked the therapist and thought she had some really good ideas in terms of getting Caden to begin to actually enjoy eating. So we will see what happens. A LOT has changed since Caden first began to eat by mouth so hopefully now that he's 100% oral, we can work on getting him to “like” eating and want to feed himself. It will be a long road regardless. But at least we are making progress.