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The Speech-Language Pathologists in the Feeding and Swallowing Program are highly trained and experienced in working with infants and children who have feeding and swallowing difficulties.  Below is a list of some of the areas that we specialize in:

  • dysphagia, swallowing impairments, swallowing disorders
  • feeding difficulties
  • food aversion, oral aversion, food refusal, behavioral feeding issues
  • oral hypersensitivity, gagging
  • oral motor delay, oral motor disorders
  • suck-swallow-breathe discoordination, sucking difficulties, breastfeeding difficulties, bottle feeding, newborn feeding, infant feeding
  • introduction of solids, difficulty transitioning to solids, biting and chewing difficulties
  • feeding equipment, bottles, nipples, baby food, spoons, cups, teething toys
  • modified diets, thickened liquids, thickened fluids
  • non-oral feeding, tube feeding, tube weaning
  • oral stimulation, oral desensitization
  • tracheostomy, speaking valves
  • clinical feeding evaluation, feeding assessment, swallow assessment
  • modified barium swallow (MBS), video fluoroscopic swallow study (VFSS), fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES)

We address feeding and swallowing issues in children who have:

Prematurity

  • low gestational age at birth
  • respiratory disease
  • broncho-pulmonary dysplasia (BPD)
  • chronic lung disease (CLD)
  • low birth weight
  • comorbidities associated with prematurity

Respiratory and aerodigestive disorders that can impact feeding and swallowing

  • apnea of the newborn
  • laryngomalacia, tracheomalacia, bronchomalacia
  • laryngeal cleft
  • reactive airway disease
  • pneumonia/bronchiolitis

Cardio-pulmonary disorders that can impact feeding and swallowing

  • cyanotic heart defects, acyanotic heart defects
  • hypoplastic left heart syndrome
  • cardiac disease
  • congenital heart disease
  • ventricular septal defect (ASD)
  • patient ductus arteriosus (PDA)

Gastrointestinal and growth Issues that can impact feeding and swallowing

  • congenital diaphragmatic hernia
  • food allergies
  • food intolerances
  • esophageal strictures
  • failure to thrive
  • nectrotising enterocolotis (NEC)
  • gastroschesis
  • Hirshprung’s disease
  • tracheo-esophageal fistula (TEF)
  • esophageal atresia (EA) and long gap esophageal atresia (LGEA)
  • gastroesophageal reflux (GER)
  • eosinophillic esophagitis (EE)
  • short gut syndrome/short bowel syndrome

Neurological and neuromuscular disorders that can impact feeding and swallowing

  • intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH)
  • periventricular leukomalacia (PVL)
  • hydrocephalus
  • seizures
  • epilepsy
  • microcephaly
  • traumatic brain injury (TBI) and acquired brain injury (ABI)
  • brain tumors
  • hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)
  • spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
  • muscular dystrophy (MD)
  • multiple sclerosis (MS)
  • cerebral palsy (CP)
  • Chiari malformation

Congenital abnormalities that can impact feeding and swallowing

  • cleft lip, cleft palate
  • Pierre Robin sequence
  • other cranio-facial syndromes
  • Moebius syndrome
  • micrognathia

Medical treatments that may impact feeding and swallowing

  • tube feeding (OG, NG, NJ, PEG, gastrostomy)
  • respiratory support (e.g. ventilation, high-flow, CPAP, oxygen)
  • tracheostomy, nasopharyngeal (NP) airway
  • some medications

Ingestional injuries (e.g. swallowing detergents or a battery)

Structural or airway complications

  • laryngeal cleft
  • tongue tie
  • chronic tonsillitis
  • vocal cord/vocal fold paralysis
  • subglottic stenosis
  • laryngomalacia
  • tracheomalacia
  • tracheostomy
  • choanal atresia

Genetic disorders that can impact feeding and swallowing

  • Down syndrome
  • CHARGE Association
  • Rett Syndrome
  • Prader-Willi syndrome
  • Cornelia de Lange syndrome
  • 22q11 deletion (DiGeorge or velocardiofacial Syndrome)

Sensory processing disorders (SPD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD)

Behavioral feeding difficulties (e.g. food aversion)

Please note: this list is not exhaustive.