Eating should be a safe and positive experience, but for some infants and children, feeding and swallowing can be challenging and familiy mealtimes stressful. Difficulties with eating may affect a child’s nutrition, growth, development, participation in family mealtimes, and overall quality of life—and can be stressful for the entire family.

The Marshall University Speech and Hearing Center provides comprehensive feeding and swallowing evaluations and individualized therapy for infants, children, and adolescents. Our expert team works with families to understand the many factors that can contribute to feeding difficulties and develop practical strategies that can be used during everyday routines.

Whether your child has difficulty nursing and/or bottle feeding, transitioning to solid foods, eats a very limited variety of foods, struggles with chewing, coughs or chokes while eating, or experiences stressful mealtimes, our team is here to help.

Who Can Benefit from Feeding and Swallowing Services?

Our clinicians evaluate and treat children with a wide variety of feeding and swallowing concerns, including:

Difficulty sucking, chewing, or swallowing
Coughing, choking, or gagging during meals
Difficulty transitioning to new food textures
Limited food variety or food refusal
Difficulty drinking from a bottle, cup, or straw
Oral-motor or feeding skill difficulties
Stressful or challenging mealtimes
Feeding difficulties associated with developmental, neurological, genetic, or medical conditions
Oral sensory or texture-related feeding difficulties
Inefficient chewing or swallowing patterns
Oral resting posture or tongue thrust concerns
Feeding concerns associated with tethered oral tissues, including tongue tie or lip tie
Difficulty transitioning from tube feedings to oral feedings

Because pediatric feeding disorders can involve medical, nutritional, feeding skill, and psychosocial factors, some children may benefit from evaluation by more than one professional.

Signs Your Child May Benefit from an Evaluation

Consider scheduling a feeding and swallowing evaluation if your child:

Coughs, chokes, or frequently gags while eating or drinking
Has difficulty chewing or managing food in their mouth
Takes an unusually long time to finish meals
Refuses entire categories or textures of food
Eats a very limited variety of foods
Has difficulty transitioning from purees to textured foods or table foods
Has difficulty transitioning from a bottle to a cup or straw
Becomes upset, anxious, or distressed around food or mealtimes
Has difficulty gaining weight or maintaining adequate nutrition
Requires significant modifications or assistance to eat
Has a medical or developmental condition affecting feeding
Has been referred because of concerns about swallowing safety

Families do not need to determine the cause of the feeding difficulty before seeking help. Our clinicians can help identify the factors contributing to your child’s feeding challenges and determine appropriate next steps.

What to Expect During the Evaluation

Your child’s evaluation begins with a conversation about your concerns, your child’s medical and feeding history, and what mealtimes typically look like at home. We want to understand not only what your child eats, but also how feeding challenges affect your child’s and family’s daily routines.

During the evaluation, we will observe your child eating and drinking foods and beverages that are familiar to them. Families may be asked to bring preferred foods, challenging foods, bottles, cups, utensils, or other items typically used during meals.

Depending on your child’s needs, the evaluation may examine:

Oral-motor and feeding skills
Sucking, chewing, and swallowing
Food and texture acceptance
Mealtime behaviors and routines
Positioning and seating
Sensory responses to food
Nutrition and growth concerns
Medical and developmental factors affecting feeding

When appropriate, a multidisciplinary evaluation may be recommended. Our team may include professionals from speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, nutrition, psychology, physical therapy, and other disciplines based on your child’s individual needs.

Multidisciplinary evaluations typically last approximately two hours.

Individualized Feeding and Swallowing Therapy

Every child receives recommendations based on their unique strengths, needs, and family priorities. Our goal is not simply to increase the number of foods a child eats. We work to support safe feeding, development of appropriate feeding skills, positive experiences with food, and successful participation in family mealtimes.

Depending on your child’s needs, therapy may focus on:

Improving sucking, chewing, and swallowing skills
Developing oral-motor skills for eating and drinking
Safely advancing food textures
Increasing comfort and positive experiences with food
Expanding food variety
Improving mealtime routines
Supporting appropriate positioning and feeding equipment
Developing age-appropriate cup, straw, and utensil skills
Reducing stress associated with eating and mealtimes
Teaching caregivers strategies that can be incorporated into everyday routines

Families and caregivers are an essential part of feeding therapy. Our clinicians work alongside families so that strategies learned during therapy can be realistically incorporated into meals at home.

Multidisciplinary Feeding Care

Feeding difficulties are complex and may not have a single cause. When appropriate, children can receive a multidisciplinary evaluation involving professionals with expertise in different aspects of feeding and development.

Depending on your child’s needs, the team may include:

Speech-language pathologists and feeding therapists
Occupational therapists
Registered dietitians
Behavioral psychologists
Physical therapists

The team works collaboratively with families to identify contributing factors and develop coordinated recommendations.

Following the evaluation, recommendations are discussed with the family so that strategies can begin at home. Families also receive a comprehensive written report that can be shared with physicians, schools, therapists, and other members of the child’s care team.

Additional Specialized Services

Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders

Our clinic provides comprehensive evaluation and treatment for orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs). These may include concerns related to oral resting posture, tongue thrust, chewing, swallowing patterns, and other aspects of oral function.

Individualized treatment plans are developed based on each child’s needs and may address oral function for feeding, swallowing, speech, and related activities.

Tethered Oral Tissues

Our clinicians can also assess feeding and oral function when there are concerns about tethered oral tissues, such as tongue tie or lip tie.

Evaluation focuses on function, including how oral structures may be affecting feeding, swallowing, speech, or other oral skills. Recommendations are individualized and may include therapy, caregiver strategies, collaboration with other healthcare professionals, or referral for additional evaluation when appropriate.

Feeding-U

In addition to individual feeding therapy, the Marshall University Speech and Hearing Center offers Feeding-U, a group-based feeding program designed to help children explore food in a positive and supportive environment.

Feeding-U incorporates hands-on and language-based food activities to encourage positive interactions with food, peer participation, and successful family mealtimes.

In-Person and Telepractice Services

Feeding and swallowing therapy is available on an outpatient basis at the Marshall University Speech and Hearing Center.

Families who already have therapists closer to home may also use our evaluation and recommendations to guide care with their local providers. Reevaluations can be scheduled when additional assessment or updated recommendations are needed.

Families who live more than 50 miles from Marshall University may qualify for telepractice services when clinically appropriate.

Why Choose Marshall University?

Families choose the Marshall University Speech and Hearing Center because we provide:

Comprehensive feeding and swallowing evaluations
Individualized, evidence-based treatment
Access to multidisciplinary evaluation when needed
Family-centered care focused on everyday mealtimes
Specialized expertise in pediatric feeding and swallowing
Evaluation and treatment of orofacial myofunctional disorders
Assessment of oral function related to tethered oral tissues
Individual and group-based treatment options
Telepractice options for qualifying families
Graduate student clinicians supervised by experienced professionals
Collaboration with physicians, schools, therapists, and other members of the child’s care team

As a university clinic, we combine specialized clinical services with education and current evidence-based practice to provide families with comprehensive, individualized care.

Insurance and Financial Assistance

Insurance coverage for pediatric feeding and swallowing services varies by plan. Families are encouraged to contact their insurance provider to determine whether feeding and swallowing evaluation and treatment are covered and whether prior authorization is required.

Financial assistance may also be available through the Huntington Scottish Rite Scholarship Program for qualifying families whose insurance does not cover services or who do not have insurance coverage.

Please contact the Marshall University Speech and Hearing Center for additional information about insurance, costs, and available financial assistance.

Schedule an Appointment

If eating and drinking have become difficult, stressful, or concerning for your child or family, our team is here to help.

Contact the Marshall University Speech and Hearing Center at 304-696-3641 to schedule a pediatric feeding and swallowing evaluation or learn more about our services. Together, we can work toward safer feeding, stronger feeding skills, and more positive mealtime experiences for your child and family.

Contact Us

Speech & Hearing Center @ Marshall