Intensive Feeding Therapy - Week 1

Not ready to work!

This Wednesday, James started intensive feeding therapy.  Due to his stubborn nature, the speech therapist decided against the normal course of action, two full weeks in the program.  Instead, she asked us to come three days a week for three to four weeks.  Generally, each day, his schedule consists of three meals with the speech therapist, an hour with physical therapy, and a half hour with occupational therapy.  We have small gaps here and there where the kids get to play in the Kids Zone that has lots of toys, activities, and free books(!).  Yesterday they had a musician who had a little private by-request concert for James and Rita.  They loved hearing "Wheels on the Bus" on the ukelele.

It was an exhausting week, but here are some highlights:

1. James is eating much better at most meals, not fighting us, but willingly feeding himself and at a faster rate.  The speech therapist noted that, thanks to his stubborn streak and age, James really wants to exert control.  When we ignore his "no" tantrums and don't "force" or ask him to eat he does so willingly.

2. James can bite.  We worked on biting on a fruit chew and he did really well.  Today he even took several bites of a brownie cookie, using his front teeth.  He spit most of it back out.  The therapist wants him to be comfortable spitting foods out so James doesn't feel scared of food.  He did, however, wash a few crumbs down with a sip of milk.

3. James played with shaving cream.  James is really sensitive to anything sticking to his hands.  This, of course, makes self feeding difficult.  He played with shaving cream in OT today which was great!  He usually doesn't touch anything "sticky."

4. James did well with self-feeding.  We had to give him a break sometimes, but he did really well bringing the spoon to his mouth.  The therapists agreed that his low muscle tone just makes everything so much harder for him.  Even lifting a spoon can be a difficult task.  We found using plastic, instead of metal, spoons work much better.  The therapist added a big round piece of foam to the handle that makes it much easier for him to hold.

5. James took 100 steps with his walker three days in a row!  The PT used a backwards walker so James didn't have a bar in front of him, but had supports to hold on the sides.  The walker also had a small core support since he is still building his muscle strength.  He still needs a lot of encouragement to take his steps, but is doing so well!

James did so well at dinner tonight.  He had a fit here and there, but we were able to ignore it while keeping a normal flow of conversation and motivate him with favorite foods.  It was the least-stressful dinner I've fed him in a long time.

With love.