Nourish & Grow

Feeding Therapy

Feeding challenges look different in every family. Maybe your child has always been an extremely selective eater. Maybe they recently started refusing foods they used to love. Maybe mealtimes have involved gagging, choking, or tears for as long as you can remember. Whatever your story, we want to hear it.

At Forward Therapy, our feeding therapy program is designed to meet children exactly where they are. We look beyond the plate to understand the sensory, motor, and behavioral pieces that make eating hard, and we work alongside your family to make mealtimes something everyone can look forward to again.

How We Can Help

Common Feeding Challenges

Sensory-Based Food Aversions: When the smell, texture, temperature, or appearance of certain foods feels genuinely overwhelming to a child, mealtimes become a battle. We help children gradually desensitize to the foods that feel scary, building comfort and confidence at a pace that works for them.

Oral Motor Strengthening: Safe, efficient eating depends on the strength and coordination of the jaw, lips, and tongue. When those foundations are underdeveloped, chewing and moving food can be difficult and even unsafe. We target the underlying oral motor skills that make eating easier and more functional.

Expanding Food Variety: For children stuck in a very limited range of accepted foods, we use a gradual, low-pressure approach to introduce new colors, textures, and food groups in a way that feels successful rather than stressful.

Safe Swallowing & Airway Health: If your child consistently coughs, chokes, or gags during meals, or if you have concerns about whether they are swallowing safely, we take a careful look at the relationship between chewing, swallowing, and breathing to ensure mealtimes are as safe as they are enjoyable.

Mealtime Routine & Behavior: Sometimes the challenge is less about the food itself and more about the anxiety that has built up around it. We work to reduce mealtime stress, rebuild positive associations with food, and help families develop routines that feel calm, predictable, and enjoyable for everyone at the table.

Our Approach: Feed The Peds®

At Forward Therapy, we proudly utilize the Feed The Peds® framework, a holistic, physiologically-based approach to pediatric feeding that goes far beyond the surface of what a child will or won't eat.

Rather than addressing feeding challenges in isolation, Feed The Peds® looks at the full picture: oral motor skills, airway health, sensory processing, and the way all of those systems work together. By identifying and treating the root cause of a child's feeding difficulties rather than just the symptoms, we are able to create lasting, meaningful change that shows up not just in the therapy room but at your kitchen table.

Our goal is simple. We want your child to be a happy, healthy, and confident eater, and we want mealtimes to feel like the joyful, connective experience they are meant to be.