Clarity Service Group offers a local Pediatric Feeding Disorders Clinic led by Dr. Sean Casey, PhD. With our clinic and home-based services, we help children to eat... and grow.
Does your child experience mealtime difficulties?
Food Refusal * Food Selectivity * Tantrums & Crying * Tube Feeding
Most parents take mealtime for granted as they cook, serve, clean up after their children and provide nutrition in the process. But for some families, mealtime is much harder and heartbreaking. Up to one third of typical developing children and their fam
ilies experience mealtime difficulties. These potential serious issues are much more common for those with autism spectrum disorders - for these youngsters, 72% experience feeding concerns...while the causes of these problems are complex, the effect is clear: it can be difficult if not impossible for parents to feed their child. Feeding concerns can cause very real distress and upset for families. Additionally, the child may experience nutritional deficits or a failure of oral motor skills to develop normally. While the problem is alarming, effective treatments are available locally.
What happens if feeding disorders are not treated?
Correlation data suggest that cognitive capacity is reduced. Additionally, adaptive behaviors may fail to develop on schedule, particularly speech, language, and ambulation. Behavior problems are more frequent
How can you find help locally for your child?
Improving mealtime behaviors changes lives for the better. If your child is having difficulty with mealtimes, help is available. Please contact us for more information as we offer one of a few local services for intensive intervention. Our Pediatric Feeding Program is led by Dr. Sean Casey, PhD. Dr. Casey is a Behavioral Feeding Expert and Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University, and received the PhD in special education from the University of Iowa where he also trained in the Pediatric Feeding Development Program. Since 1997, his clinical work has included consultation for behavioral disorders, educational programming, and pediatric feeding concerns. Dr. Casey’s compassion for families is evident as he helps them cope with and overcome behavioral disorders. He truly enjoys helping children to successfully eat and is an approachable, knowledgeable, and highly effective clinician.
What are effective treatments for feeding concerns?
Physicians' primary solution for severe feeding problems include use of a
gastrointestinal tube (g-tube) or naso-gastrointestinal tube (ng-tube). However, behavioral interventions have been successful in augmenting and in many cases eliminating tube feedings for children who are tube dependent. In this approach, the focus is on teaching specific behaviors and skills such as increasing bite acceptances, reducing refusals, and improving tolerance or increasing acceptance of textured foods. Such intensive programs report approximately 90% success rates in areas including increased caloric consumption by mouth, decreasing bottle or tube dependence, fewer inappropriate mealtime behaviors like tantrums, and increased texture or variety of foods consumed. And, the improvements in quality of life for the family are immeasurable.
How does behavioral intervention work?
At times, a consultation model of advising parents is appropriate. For other children, a short intensive period of multi-day intervention may be helpful. However, for many more serious cases, participation takes 2-4 weeks and begins with a detailed assessment of feeding skills, food acceptance, food refusal, and measures such as caloric intake. Next, a treatment plan is developed, implemented, and refined. Children admitted into such intensive behavioral treatment, with their parents, attend the program daily including weekends. Skilled staff members provide intensive feeding sessions for four to six meals per day, based upon nutritionist recommendation. Finally, parents and other caregivers are trained to use the selected procedures independently. Family follow up is conducted by appointments and/or telephone, review of videotaped meals, and e-mail. These interventions can be provided in a clinic setting or right in the family's home.
