Resources for Professionals

Professionals are always looking for resources to support what we do, and to help us learn and grow. So, we are providing some of our favorite resources for professionals. This page will grow as we find resources. Help us out! Send us any resources that you find, so we can review them. We will continue to evaluate resources through the eyes of Infant and Family Developmental Care principles… and if the resource fits within this framework we will add it to this page.

Feeding Matters is a parent-professional organization that provides wonderful information and that develops resources we can use to advocate for these families. True confession – I am the chair of the Advocacy Committee for this organization. So…. I will also recommend that you become a member of the Pediatric Feeding Disorder Alliance.  As one example, they have just launched a PFD ICD-10 Toolkit…to help professionals explain what PFD is, and to spread the word! PFD is a stand-alone diagnostic code in the newest revision of the ICD-10!

Based on her many years of experience as a mum to two amazing boys, and over 20 years as a Paediatric Occupational Therapist, this book was written to reassure parents, carers and families.  When you have a child with additional needs, what’s important is not that they get top marks or play rugby for the first team: it’s that they are able to get changed quickly enough after PE or have a friend round on a stress-free playdate.  Aniesa has developed an approach (CAN) to help children  Connect, Achieve and Navigate their way to independence.

Click here to get Aniesa’s book on Amazon

How can grasshoppers help parents and feeding professionals teach anxious eaters about new foods?  Marsha Dunn Klein, an internationally known feeding therapist, provides the answer in this book, highlighting that most anxious eaters do not enjoy the sensations and variability of new foods.  In seeking to help them, she asks what you’d need to do to help yourself try a worrisome new food, such as a grasshopper. Drawing on her own experience trying grasshoppers while learning Spanish in Mexico, she personalizes the struggle of children to find new food enjoyment, providing a goldmine of practical, proven, and compassionate strategies for parents and professionals who work with anxious eaters.

Learn how to:

  • Find peace and enjoyment during mealtimes
  • Find ways to help anxious eaters fearlessly try new foods
  • Navigate the sensory variations in food smells, tastes, textures looks, sounds
  • Help anxious eaters (and their parents) develop a more positive relationship with food

Because parents are absolutely central to mealtime success, the author incorporates parent insights throughout the book.  Using encouragement, novelty, and fun, she invites everyone back to the table with a sensitive and pressure-free approach.

Click here to get Marsha’s book on Amazon

Developmental Care Standards for Infants in Intensive Care – Ever wish you had research (other than what is provided in SOFFI® of course) to support why (and how) NICUs should provide care within a developmentally supportive framework? This website provides the Report of the First Consensus Conference on Standards, Competencies and Best Practices for Infant and Family-Centered Developmental Care in the Intensive Care Unit.  The six areas covered include:  systems thinking, positioning and touch, supporting sleep and arousal, skin-to-skin contact, reducing and managing pain and stress in newborns and families, and best practices for feeding, eating and nutrition delivery. It is updated frequently – so keep checking on it. I am using it to provide a guideline for improving practices within my own NICU settings!

The Pediatric Eating and Swallowing (PEAS) website has lots of information for professionals and for parents.  This was a collaborative practice effort by Alberta Health Services, in Alberta, Canada. While it was created for Alberta, the number and quality of the resources are impressive! I highly encourage everyone to check this out!  As always, Alberta Health Services is sharing their expertise with us!

Everyone who knows me, knows I am good friends and a co-presenter with Kay Toomey, Ph.D., for her program the SOS Approach to Feeding.  Over 30 years, Dr. Toomey has refined her transdisciplinary approach to assessing and treating feeding challenges in children. The SOS Approach to Feeding is a nationally and internationally recognized clinical program for helping all children develop a healthy and enjoyable, lifelong relationship with food. Check our her website, and click here for a video introduction to this wonderful program. I like to think of SOS® and SOFFI® as a tag-team. SOS® approaches to treatment begin around the 6-month-old age range, with the transition to purees. And her treatment approaches are used with young and old children, and even adults! I am so fortunate to work with Kay in our shared goal of helping to develop good eating habits, enjoyable mealtimes for parents and children, and improve nutritional outcomes.